VI Gold
by Lizardphobia
Summary: Kimberly and Jason's friendship has always hinted at something more. This is a take on how they've come to be when we saw them together last in Turbo, and follows Kimberly as she comes back to Angel Grove following Jason's return as Gold Ranger in Zeo.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is slightly AU, so some details will be off, but just roll with it.

* * *

 **Prologue**

 ** _Kimberly_**

I came back. Of course I came back.

It had been about two months after my fall, about the same time since I stopped replying to calls and letters from everyone, and three since I last saw Jason in Switzerland.

I remember the exact time I learnt from Trini that Jason had left the Conference so abruptly. He had simply up and vanished, after being paid a late night visit almost exactly to the hour that I had turned up at his doorstep those months ago.

I had scrambled for the phone, unused to the action after having let the answering machine do most of the work for so long.

"Whaddya mean?" I had asked, out of breath from my fumbling with the handset.

"Kim? Oh thank God _finally_."

"What do you mean?" I repeated, ignoring her comment.

She sighed and I could hear Zack in the background stomping around in between outbursts of "Goddamn Tommy _Oliver_ ".

"It's Jason. He's left for Angel Grove."

"What?!"

There was a rustle and hushed words were exchanged before Zack's voice came over the line. "Your _boyfriend_ showed up last night lookin' like he'd done been through the wringer. Top secret so he wouldn't tell us what was goin' on. Only that it's an _emergency_ and a matter of life and _death_ or some'n. Grabs Jase and goes."

He sounded frustrated and I couldn't fault him. "We've not heard from Jason since. We tried Billy and the Command Center but something seems to be jammin' communication lines." I heard him tell Trini something and a moment later his voice came back over the line. "Kim, we're worried."

That was about three days ago.

Three days later, and still no news from Jason. In the meantime, I had bitten my nails down to the quick. Spent too much time on the phone with Zack, learnt that Tommy had "teleported in a streak of _red_ like since when was Tommy _red_ , man", that Jason had borrowed a bandana, shades and a trench coat from Zack because Tommy was insistent that no one could know just who he was bringing back to Angel Grove with him. I did not like the sound of that and it worried me greatly.

All this time and I still had told neither him nor Trini that I'd broken up with Tommy months ago. Nor why I had stopped returning their calls and correspondence.

I checked my answering machine any moment I could. Checked and double-checked that the handset was hooked back properly on the cradle every fifteen seconds; hoping for that one voice, that one call.

I was unprepared for the moment he finally did call again. The machine picked it up when I was in the shower, and I nearly cracked my head on the tiles skidding out to hear his disbelieving "Jesus, Kimberly. You broke up with Tommy in a letter?"

Of all the things he could have chosen to say. I harrumphed and glared at the machine. At least I knew he was okay. A heavy fog lifted from my person, for news reports from Angel Grove had been sporadic and from what little there had been, it had been grim.

We knew that the outskirts of the city had been utterly destroyed, and a huge battle was raging between the Rangers and The Machine Empire. But what had really gotten to us was the appearance of a new ranger. Incredibly powerful and absolutely stunning in gold; Zack, Trini and I had discussed to death the threat and probability of this new ranger being one of the Empire's — like what Rita's Green Ranger had been to us back then.

This news terrified me, and I had no idea what in the world Tommy could have wanted with Jason. A myriad of possibilities raced through my mind, and I had the tendency to go from zero to a hundred in a millisecond, so every other scenario usually ended up with Jason being mutilated and killed or sacrificed on the Altar of the Metal Gods.

"Kim, calm down, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for this," Trini, ever cool-headed, said. "I highly doubt that Tommy would let any real harm come to him."

"Oh yeah? You weren't there when our Zords got turned to mush," I had muttered darkly.

I stared at the machine as it relayed the remainder of Jason's message. I heard him sigh, and could very well picture him running a hand through his hair. The image tugged at my heart. "I suppose it's none of my business, but why didn't you tell me? Tell us?" A pause, another sigh, deeper this time, and then, "Call me okay, Kim?" A beep signalled the end of the message.

I wanted to scream at him. Of _course_ it was his business. But then, I hadn't really given him the impression that I wanted anything to be his business for the last two months. It was only later that I realized that he neglected to mention Tommy or what he had wanted with him back in Angel Grove.

I assumed that things would return to normal, 'normal' here being that Jason would continue trailblazing his way through Europe, and I would hobble along with the pieces of my life here in Florida. But another phone call from Trini changed things and turned my life upside down.

For I found out that Jason had been specially hunted down and called back into Angel Grove for a higher purpose. He had been returned to and had reclaimed his powers again. And not just his old ones, but superhuman, otherworldly, _Gold_ ones.

It clicked then, the brief images of the stunning figure in gold that was captured in grainy resolution by some newsman. Fear came swiftly after that, as I put into perspective what I know now — that the explosions and gunfire I had seen on screen were directed _at_ the Gold Ranger, and not _from_ him.

He was a walking target for weapon fire.

God _damn_ Tommy Oliver.

I didn't want to go back. But of course I did. I had to.


	2. Chapter 2

The Pan Globals had been everything to me. I trained hard, I had left my high school boyfriend, and perhaps the biggest sacrifice of all had been giving up my colors for it.

But it had been worth it. That moment when I stood on the highest step on the Winner's Podium right above the ornately embossed "1", searching the crowd for that one pair of dark eyes, with a shiny new gold medal swishing about my neck.

I had been made for greater things, and the path to the Olympics was clear.

Or so I thought. And so did everyone I knew.

The disappointment I felt when I tried for and failed to make it through the qualifying rounds at the 'O's was humongous. That I failed to make it through the _first_ qualifying rounds?

It was crushing.

I turned up in Geneva barely twenty-four hours after my defeat. Sheer instinct had taken me there, and once there, I was made all better again. Better enough to try again anyway.

If only that had been all of it.

The second blow came when I had returned to Florida to train. Desperate to prove something to myself, or maybe to justify that everything had been worth it, I pushed myself too hard, trained a little too much. The already overstrained tendon at the back of my foot gave out, and it wouldn't have been so bad had the sudden pain not jolted my concentration and caused me to fall from the beam. I've been told that I tried to land correctly — the entire thing was quite honestly a blur to me — but the muscle finally snapped, and all I remember was a haze of blinding pain.

It was straight to the operating room for me, where doctors sliced open the back of my calf and tried to repair the damaged tendon. I was in a cast for six weeks and though I was up and walking once it was off, they cautioned me against competing professionally again.

I sunk into a sort of depression, a funk, that nothing could seem to get me out of. I had no purpose, nothing to live for, to train for, no goal to achieve, to accomplish. And from being a highly sought after gymnast and a ranger to boot, this had come as a devastating blow.

Trini wrote. Zack wrote. Billy wrote. Jason wrote.

The fab five. The original five. Friends for life.

I could barely even manage a reply.

And then the calls came. My answering machine had beeped consistently with ignored messages. I cleared it only when it ran out of space, for as much as it brought to surface newly discovered things that I didn't want to think about, the rich baritone that left at least one message a day was my sole source of comfort.

And now I knew that he was back, risking life and limb again all because of his goddamn honor, and _loyalty_ to the man he surrendered leadership of his team to. Florida, my safe-zone, suddenly became too far; too far from where I needed to be.

No one knew that I had returned, and it probably would be only a matter of time before I was found out. It didn't help that I lived on the same street as the Scotts as well and eagle-eyed Jason noticed in an instant the moment that the windows to my bedroom were flung open once again.

The day he nimbly scaled his way up the side of my house and dropped quietly into my room unannounced was the day that I very nearly died from a heart attack.

"Jesus, Jase! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

He raised an eyebrow sardonically and eyed me in my half-dressed state, as unaffected as can be.

I tried not to think about how much that irritated me.

I wrung my hair out to dry, for he couldn't have picked a worse time, I had just stepped out of the shower about two seconds ago when he made his lithe appearance through my bedroom window. Sometimes I really detested the fact that for such a big man he barely made any noise when he moved.

"Why didn't you tell anyone that you were home, Kim?" he asked in his usual straightforward way.

I ignored him.

Patient as always and tenacious to a fault, he made his way over to my bed and sat, silently observing me.

I managed about five seconds before I started fidgeting. I shot him the biggest glare I could summon, then fumbled around for a brush and began tugging it viciously through my hair.

"'Cos I didn't want to," I answered pugnaciously.

"Why?"

I slid a slit-eyed look at him. Back straight, fingers steepled, forearms on knees and feet firmly planted on the ground, I doubted there was anything about Jason that wasn't honed and controlled. He was all grace and agility and in comparison I felt like the had-been Olympiad wannabe gymnast that fell flat on her face and failed.

I shrugged.

He let out a sigh. _Patiently_ , of course. I yanked the brush through my hair so hard I nearly lost a whole chunk of it.

"Kimberly," he said, startling me as he took the brush from my hand. He had crossed the room in three steps and I hadn't even noticed. "Have I done something for you to be mad at me for?"

My heart skipped a beat. "No." A pause, "and I'm not mad at you."

"What is it then?"

I stalled for time, and stared stubbornly at the floor.

I nearly jumped when I felt his hands in my hair, dragging the brush through with absolutely no resistance whatsoever from either end. _Traitors_ , I thought snidely, cursing both my traitorous hair and disloyal brush.

He had never done anything like that for me before. It wouldn't have felt unusual, or even unnatural, if he had _before_ ; but it was different now, had been for awhile if I were to be honest with myself, and I couldn't sit still. My scalp tingled. The back of my neck tingled. I did not like it.

I swivelled around and snatched the brush out of his hand. He blinked at me in surprise.

"I, uh, I think I'm just gonna braid it." My voice came out unnaturally high.

He nodded and sat on the edge of my dresser, stretching his legs out before him.

We sat in silence while I fussed with my hair, and then re-fussed with it. Eventually the tingling went away and I could once again look at him.

He looked good. Better than good. Fitter than I had seen him last, if that was even humanly possible. There was a faint red mark on the side of his jaw and I wondered if he had gotten it shaving. I looked up to find him looking at me curiously.

"Um," I said awkwardly.

"Is something wrong?" A furrow appeared between his brows.

"No, uh, nothing."

He unfolded his arms and reached out to touch my shoulder. "Kimberly, what happened? Over there in Florida?" He stopped, as if to reconsider. "Actually, ever since you left Geneva. Things have felt kinda different between us."

Things _were_ different. But not in a way that I could explain. I spent almost all my time trying _not_ to think about it. Which was what I did now as I changed the subject.

"I heard Tommy came to get you," I said lightly.

He eyed me, letting me know that he knew what I was doing. But shrugged and went with it. "He did."

My gaze dropped and lingered on the black that now clung to his form. I looked up to find his eyes before looking away. "You didn't tell me," I stated lowly, trying to keep the hurt out of my voice.

He exhaled slowly. "I didn't know how," he said simply. "It wasn't something I wanted to tell your answering machine."

I sobered. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

I shook my head, feeling petty and small. "How do you feel? Having them back?"

He looked serious. "They're not mine."

I peered at him closely. I had heard about these new powers. A quick call to Billy and a little manipulative wheedling on my part had him reluctantly reveal that they had been too much for his own body to handle. But the brief few seconds that he had held them before they had violently rejected his body had left him in awe of the sheer magnitude of their power, and also left him weak and frail and shivering for days after.

I did not like the sound of them at all. And having seen Jason, I liked them even less.

"Jason," I started, fighting to keep the wariness out of my voice, "couldn't they find someone else?"

He shook his head, running a hand down his face. "Tommy was desperate. They'd already rejected Billy, and he was a prime candidate." He angled his face towards mine, and with his next words he effectively closed the subject. "Will you tell me now, what happened?"

I glanced away, tracing imaginary lines on my knees as I avoided his eyes. "Stuff happened, Jase. I didn't really know how to handle it."

"I don't— Why didn't you tell me, Kim?"

I lifted my shoulders. "I couldn't," I mumbled. I wasn't even sure if he heard me.

Apparently he did, for he frowned but he didn't press me on it like I feared he would. Instead, he opened his arms and with a soft, "Come here", I found myself enveloped in his scent, his body, and exactly where I wanted to be.

I pressed my face into his neck and he dropped his chin on the top of my head. "I want to help, Kim. Please don't shut me out."

I tightened my arms around him in response. "God, I missed you, Jase."

The familiar kiss came to the top of my head. "Me too."

He released me too soon, and I reluctantly stepped back.

"How do you plan on telling Tommy that you're back?"

I ducked my head. "I don't," I replied.

"Say what?"

I glanced up at him with a look of exaggerated patience. "I don't plan on telling Tommy, because there is no point."

He sighed. "Kimberly— " he started, before I rolled my eyes and pushed past him to my closet.

 _Kimberly._

Only Jason ever called or made my full name sound quite like that. For everyone else it was mostly 'Kim' or 'Kimmie' or, Beautiful', I thought with a small pang.

"Jase, just please okay?" I stuck my head in the deepest recesses of my closet, looking for my favorite sleeping shirt and shorts. "I did not come back for him. And I can't face him, not yet. I just—" I sighed and turned around, stalking to the bathroom with clothes in hand. I left the door open, so he could hear me. "I'm confused enough as it is... And I just—," I stopped to blow out another breath, tugging my shirt over my head. "Well, I did not come home to pick open a fresh scar."

I walked out a moment later to see him looking out the window, leaning a forearm on the top of the window frame. I stared at the back of his head, acknowledging that I was putting him in a difficult position.

But Tommy will have questions and he would want answers. Questions that I did not want to hear, and answers that I did not have.

"I'm just gonna be around for a bit, okay?" I told him, hanging my head back and trudging forwards to place my hand on his arm.

He turned then, down to look at me as I looked up to meet his eyes.

"Just.. Just to keep an eye on things," I said vaguely. "Please don't say anything to Tommy. It won't help anything."

He contemplated me. "Is it still so very hard for you?" he asked me quietly.

I bit my lip and glanced away. "Maybe. I don't know." I twisted around to flop down on my bed. "It wasn't a good break up, you know."

"That's an understatement."

I made a face at him. "And besides, I'm not sure what I feel about Kat."

A slight smile crossed his face at the mention of her name.

One that I picked up on in a flash. I frowned, not liking the feeling that was coursing through me. I eyed him beadily. "What is it, Jason?"

"Nothing. It's just, she's not sure what she feels about you too, actually."

My eyes narrowed further. "Have you guys been _talking_?" I asked sharply. Far more sharply than I had intended, but whatever.

He gave an easy shrug. "She talks, I listen," he said. He looked at me askance. "Kind of like you and I, really."

I jerked off the bed to stand toe-to-toe with him, leaning up as far as I can to growl in his face. "Not like you and I." I poked his chest. " _I'm_ your _best_ friend."

He held both hands up in the air and took a step back from me, amused. "Easy there. Point taken." He paused, "So's Tommy though."

I felt a stab of guilt, but I resolutely ignored it. "And I do _not_ do all the talking either."

Unconsciously, my gaze dropped to his hands, and that same _twinge_ I had felt during the Pan Globals flooded me. I tuned it out and reached, frowning, for his right hand instead, my thumb brushing gently over the bruised and raw skin of his split knuckles.

"Monster? Or training?" I asked quietly.

"Bit of both actually."

"Anywhere else?"

He nodded vaguely. "Here and there."

"Be careful," I blurted out.

He gave me an odd glance. "I always am."

I looked away, slightly embarrassed. It was true, he was always careful, and I was never _this_ neurotic.

A series of beeps sounded from his left wrist and he glanced at me as I looked at it. "Tommy," he said.

"It's okay," I told him, and he nodded and brought his wrist to his mouth.

"Yeah, I hear you."

Tommy's voice came over the communicator, and I wasn't really prepared for the nostalgia I felt hearing it.

"Jase, we need you, bro. Power Chamber."

Jason murmured his affirmative and closed off the communication. "I gotta go, Kim."

"I know."

I stood back as he teleported out in a streak of night, shot through with crackles of an otherworldly gold. It was familiar and yet unfamiliar on all counts. I felt a pang when I realized that this was his life now, and an even sharper one when I realized that I hadn't shared it for a long time, ever since the very first day he left for Switzerland.


	3. Chapter 3

The plan to go about my daily activities without Tommy and the others finding out I was back in town now seemed like a ridiculously stupid plan. And getting more so as the minutes ticked by and I was stuck behind a tree outside a café in a part of town I had been _absolutely sure_ that no one I knew from Angel Grove was going to be.

Turns out I couldn't be more wrong.

I snuck a peak from my spot behind the huge oak, noting that if I could somehow walk past the table where all six of the rangers were seated at, there would still be no conceivable place on this stretch of empty street for me to duck into or hide behind after that.

Curse outdoor seating. And curse outdoor seating with long tables that looked out on sidewalks.

I huffed out a growl and my foot started tapping this wild dance on the ground. _Think, Kim, think._ I peeked around the tree again, calculating how long I could hide here versus how difficult it would be to get Jason's attention.

"Pssst," I hissed.

I saw him lift his dark head up and frown. I narrowed my eyes and willed him to look over at me and my tree.

Apparently ESP doesn't exist between Jason and I for he didn't even spare a glance the tree's way. One of the Rangers soon hailed his attention, because, well, popular guy that he was - everybody _clearly_ wants a piece of him. I glared daggers at Rocky who I was sure had him engaged in some useless bit of information.

A burst of raucous laughter sounded from a few tables behind them and they turned as one to look. I contemplated sprinting for it, but something about the situation at the café stopped me from doing so. A group of bikers sat around a table some feet away from Jason and the others, and my attention was immediately drawn to the beautiful girl seated amongst them. Physically, she was the polar opposite of me: blonde and tall, and exuded a cool grace that I could never in a million years even attempt to emulate. Oh she and Katherine would be best friends.

I wondered what she was doing in such company. It appears I'm not the only one.

"What a babe. I wonder what she's doing with them," Rocky said with a low whistle.

Tanya shot him an affronted look. "Stop objectifying women."

"What?" he retorted, rolling his eyes, "She is!" He turned to Jason, "Right, man?"

I stared at Jason.

He didn't seem to have heard Rocky. Or if he did, he wasn't saying anything. But I had a clear view of him from where I stood, and his eyes were fixed on the girl.

My hand spasmed. And before I knew it, I had hurled something at him. It wasn't coincidence that lent me command of the Power Bow, and my aim was true. It landed smack in the middle of his chest with a satisfying thwack. It brought him clean out of his reverie and he turned sharply towards the origin of the trajectory the flying object took.

I ducked out of sight. Which was bizarre, considering the lengths I had gone through to get his attention in the first place. His hand closed around the suspicious projectile and a crease appeared between his eyes before they snapped up and narrowed at my tree.

 _Ah crap_.

He stood up and tossed a couple of bills on the table, giving Tommy a fist bump before weaving his way out of the café. I did not miss how a certain pair of beautiful eyes followed him all the way out.

Jason had subtlety down to an art, and somehow he managed to appear at my side without any of the others noticing.

"Hey, Jase!" I greeted him breezily.

He gave me a look. Then he brought his hand up, holding the object like it insulted him.

"A lollipop? Seriously?"

"So that's where it went!"

He folded his arms. "You threw your half-eaten lollipop at me."

"Well. I didn't know I threw my _lollipop._ I mean. Jeeze, at least it wasn't a tampon," I muttered. Seeing his eyebrows rise in disbelief, I hurried to add, "I needed to get your attention!"

"It's wet and sticky!"

"Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't really think."

"I like this shirt!"

"Ah. Now that I'm sure I can do something about. Here. Hand it over. I'll pop it in the wash and voila! Good as new."

He gave me a flinty look. "Your French accent is terrible."

I was offended. "Is not. My step-dad's French. I say it _exactly_ like him."

"I lived in Geneva. I _spoke_ it for a year."

Right. I had forgotten about that. Time to change the subject. "I need to get out of here."

"I'd say."

I bit my lip and threw him my best puppy dog look. "Please?"

I knew I had him when he sighed.

"Thank you thank you!"

He snorted and pinned me with a stern gaze. "Just this once, Kim."

I nodded my head, feeling only slightly guilty. "I know."

His hand went to his wrist and he looked over at me. "Hold on."

I stepped closer to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. If he was surprised he didn't let it show. After all, secondary teleporting hardly required me to cling onto him like that.

He gave the perimeter one last check before the familiar rush of energy filled me, and we teleported out in a flash of gold light.

* * *

I opened my eyes a few seconds later to be greeted by the salty spray of the ocean breeze. We were standing on one of the rocky ledges overlooking the waves below.

I let go of Jason to walk to the very edge, where I sat with my legs dangling over the water. Jason dropped down next to me a moment later.

"I haven't been here in a long time," I said, lifting my face to the sun. I turned to find him watching me. "What?" I asked him curiously.

He gave me a half-smile and looked out to the ocean. "Nothing. Just that you haven't changed a bit."

I smiled and nudged his shoulder playfully with my own. "Do you remember how we used to build sand castles over there?" I twisted around to point to a sandy stretch of beach some distance away.

"I remember we fought putties there" -he lifted his chin- "there and there."

I rolled my eyes. " _Yes_. But we also collected seashells right over there and _there_."

"That was Billy and you. I was sparring with Zack."

I smiled fondly at the memory. "Yeah, you always were." I inhaled deeply, and caught the slightly spicy scent of his aftershave on the tangy salt air. "You taught us all. Taught us well."

He nodded absently, earring glinting in the sun as he pulled out a handful of sea-grass and watched as the wind scattered it over the waters. "Didn't make it any easier though."

I folded my arms over my knees and leaned forward, keen to hear more. But he just smiled and chucked me under the chin.

"C'mon," he said as he got swiftly to his feet. He dusted his hands then reached down to help me up. "There's some place I wanna take you to see. And someone whom you can decide whether you want to meet."

* * *

"Ernie!" I cried, spotting his familiar bulk from a distance. "He's going to set up a cafe?"

"Yeah, he is."

"On the beach?"

"Yep."

"That's the coolest. Oh my God, I need to go say hi. I've missed those smoothies of his."

I made to take off in a run but Jason's arm shot out in front of my waist. "The others come here to help out often. Are you sure?"

I chewed on my lip, then decided to throw caution to the wind. "I can't not say hi to Ernie. Besides, he's known me the longest, his loyalty's to me."

"Right."

"It's true. He's known us since we were in diapers. Long before Tommy showed up in Angel Grove." I smiled at him, excited beyond words. "Come on!" I urged, locking my hand around the inside of his elbow and tugging him after me.

Ernie was as happy to see me as I was to see him. After accepting my effusive hugs and all, he sat me down with a strawberry smoothie "on the house" and a protein one for Jason, then proceeded to grill me about the past year that I had spent in Florida.

I skated over the details following my big win at the Globals, ending with, "And here I am!"

Ernie was a lot sharper than he let on, looking from Jason to me. "I'm guessing there's more to this?"

I turned to Jason who merely lifted his eyebrows at me.

"Well... If you could kinda maybe not mention to anyone that you've seen me that would be great." I said in one breath and smiled at Ernie hopefully.

"Uh-huh," Ernie replied, somewhat skeptically.

"Um, it's just that-," I started, grasping for words. "I mean- with Tommy and, uh- well- The Globals- I-"

"Kimberly needs some fresh air. Some quiet time, home in Angel Grove, that's all."

I shot Jason a grateful glance. "Yeah, I'm not gonna be here long. Just..." -my eyes locked on him- "To take care of some things."

Ernie nodded his head. "I can understand that." He stopped polishing a glass to look at me closely. "You know, you look like you've lost weight. And you're a little peaky around the edges too." He frowned in concern and pushed my half-drunk glass towards me. "Drink up, Kim. You don't have much weight to lose in the first place."

I sobered and looked down at my lap.

"Don't worry, Ernie. I've got her," Jason said lightly.

 _Twinge twinge._ I shut it out. _Stop it, Kim._

"Yeah, you do that," Ernie said with approval.

* * *

We spent the rest of the day together, and I enjoyed myself far more than I cared to admit. We revisited old hangouts, and each one brought back countless memories of our times together. I could see Trini in the grassy spaces of the park, Billy on the picnic benches to the sides, Zack on the swings of the playground, and Tommy on the winding foot trails between the trees.

Everything was the same, and yet I saw them all with fresh eyes, somehow being able to recall with precise detail where Jason was through it all.

I saw him in all seriousness with Trini on the grass. Studying with Billy on the bench. Laughing with Zack on the playground. Walking with Tommy along a trail.

We wandered past a familiar old tree, its gnarled and thick trunk disappearing into a heavy canopy above.

"Remember this tree?"

I did. It was the first time I ever played the guitar for them and I had been blind to everyone except Tommy. Which was weird because I remember with perfect clarity the look on Jason's face when I had started to sing.

He had a similar look on his face now as he stared at the spot. "It was pretty much one of the best memories I have of us," he said with a far-off smile.

I followed his gaze down memory lane, seeing the six of us sprawled out on a picnic blanket. I remember he had parked himself on his haunches at the head of our group, as always, letting us have our fun, daring any threat to go through him before it could get at us.

A rush of appreciation swept through me, and I wondered if anyone else in our group truly knew how much he was willing to sacrifice to keep us all safe.

"Why?" I asked him, curious.

He shook his head. "It's silly," he said with a light chuckle. "It's just the first time I'd ever heard you sing, y'know. And I swear the birds stopped to listen."

I couldn't help it, I grinned, and that grin soon turned into a delighted laugh. I looked at Jason who looked a little embarrassed at what he said.

He glanced over at me; a smile, half-formed half-shy and a hundred kinds of adorable on his face. "I hadn't expected you to sound like that. It's just - you're sweet. You look sweet and you're, well, tiny. And you had such a _big_ singing voice, so different from what someone would expect you to sound."

"Go on," I teased.

He shook his head again, more emphatic this time. "No. That's all you're getting out of me today."

"What? No way, we're just getting started."

He chuckled and continued walking. I hurried after him. "C'mon, don't be a spoilsport. So you think I sing like an angel, do you?"

"Well I wouldn't go _that_ far."

"Close enough. And you think I'm sweet, huh?" I sang out, prodding at his shoulder.

He slid me a sideways smile. "Always."

That rendered me speechless.

"Ha. Got you to stop talking."

I blinked, a silly smile still on my face, all aflutter at the compliment. "Now you've _got_ to say more."

A shake of his dark head. "Nope. Zack's the one with the words not me."

"True, that. But when you do say something, everyone listens."

He stopped to look at me.

I shrugged. "It's true. Words mean so much more when they come from you."

He didn't say anything, but he took my hand and gave it a squeeze.

"So," I said, after a couple of beats with a glint in my eye, "would you say the heavens opened _before,_ or _after_ the birds stopped to listen?"

The rich sound of his answering laughter echoed within me for the rest of the day.


	4. Chapter 4

"Ernie! Oh my God, what happened here?"

The Beach Club, or what remained, was a mess. Chairs upturned everywhere, tables lying on their sides. A loose banner was flapping miserably in the evening air. I looked around wide-eyed. When I decided to head over after dinner, this was definitely not what I expected.

Ernie shrugged as he bent to straighten a couple of potted fronds. "Bikers," he sighed. "I've only just gotten around to clean up, with the Youth Center still running and all that." He stopped, and swiped at the frond. "Maybe I'm just not meant to expand my business, you know."

I picked up an upturned chair. "You can't mean that."

He glanced around dejectedly, surveying the damage.

I followed his gaze, feeling for him. "What bikers? I've never known Angel Grove to have bikers before. Monsters, yeah. But bikers?"

He shrugged again. "I dunno, Kim. They were mean."

I frowned. And an image of a certain blonde girl came to my mind. I sucked in a breath. _Bikers._

He saw the look on my face. "No, Kim, I know that look. Don't go getting any ideas."

"Ernie! You can't just let them do this!"

He sighed heavily. "What choice do I have?" He looked at me askance. "And please tell Jason not to either. He was here with the rest when it happened."

"Ernie, if he's gonna do something, I'm sure he's already done it."

Another heavy sigh. "I don't want him getting into trouble for me," he muttered. "He's a good guy, and they're nasty."

I cleared up some broken glass and threw it in the trash. "Really, you've not seen Jason handle nasty."

He didn't seem to hear me, and was mumbling to himself even as he swept up the mess. "She seemed like a good sort too."

My ear pricked. "What's that?"

Ernie looked up. "Oh. There was a girl with them. Quiet, pretty thing." He made a face, and said, "It's a shame. She looked like a decent sort, swung by the Juice Bar a couple of days ago. Jason seemed quite taken with her."

"What?" I swung around to face him. He looked a little taken aback and I cleared my throat uncomfortably. "I mean, um, he did?" I asked again.

He shrugged. "I guess. It's hard to know what Jason's really thinking. But she came by again today after this mess, and I did see them walk out of the Center together."

I worked hard on controlling my breathing. "Funny he didn't tell me about them trashing the place," I muttered.

Ernie gave me a odd look. "Kim, you were ready to take on the cavalry when you got here. Do you really think he would've told you?"

I made a face. Then walked over to him and placed an arm around his dejected shoulders. "Cheer up," I told him encouragingly. "Let Jason handle it, he'll find a way to make it work."

"Yeah, maybe," Ernie said despondently. He raised his head to look around what remained of his dream. "I better get to it. Your friends did come by earlier to help, but they had to rush off after."

There was a monster attack earlier during the day. Jason had called to make sure I was home and warned me to stay the hell out of the downtown area.

I nodded and gave his shoulder a squeeze. "C'mon. Let me help you." I blew out a breath as I took in the area. "I'd say, between the both of us, we might be able to get everything done in two hours tops."

We got to it and the work served as a welcome distraction for me. Two hours later, we were ready to call it a night when Jason showed up. He looked tired, but other than that, he appeared okay.

"I swung by your house, but your Dad told me that you were headed here," he told me as he came towards me.

I rapidly scanned him for injuries. He noticed and shook his head subtly, giving me a reassuring smile.

Ernie popped his head up from behind the counter at the sound of his voice. "Hey, Jason. I was just about to give you a call, have you walk Kim home."

Jason gave him a thumbs up and took the nearly bursting trash bag from me, tossing it in the small pile where the other trash bags were.

"Thanks, Kim," Ernie called to me. "I can take it from here. You too, Jason. Appreciate your help earlier."

We waved off his thanks and wished him good night, turning to leave. It was a beautiful night, and somehow without words, we mutually decided to take the longer way home around the lake. We walked in companionable silence for awhile; Jason shortening his longer strides to match mine.

I stole a glance at his profile in the moonlight. "I didn't see you on the news. I didn't know whether to be worried."

He gave me a brief smile. "Yeah. I was at the beach. Mondo sent an army of Cogs."

"To you specifically?" I asked, mildly alarmed.

He lifted his shoulders. "Perhaps. We've no way of knowing. But I would've found a way to the Rangers had they needed me."

I brushed off his words, my mind zeroing in on one point. "These powers," I began hesitantly, remembering what Billy said about them, "just how strong are they?"

He frowned, reaching a hand up to rub the back of his neck. "It's hard to explain. They're... strong. Powerful... I've never experienced the like before."

"What about now? When you're not morphed. Can you feel it?"

"Yes," he said. "They're a constant." He reached his arms out and looked at them. "Like a low sort of hum. I feel it all the time, in my veins and my head."

I blew out a slow breath, my mind a whirl. "This is not like our old powers."

He shook his head, "No, it's not. And they're not."

"I'm not sure I like it, Jase," I told him, chewing on my lip.

He slung an arm around my shoulders and kissed my forehead in response. "I'll manage, Kim."

"Yeah, until they slowly strip the life from you," I muttered darkly. Little did I know how true those words would turn out to be.

He laughed softly. "Kimberly," was all he said.

I caught a glint of gold hanging out from his shirt pocket, and curiosity got the better of me as I asked him what it was.

"Oh, this?" He reached into the pocket and pulled it out. A long chain draped gracefully from his hand, the head of a rather ornate looking elephant dangling from the end of it.

I frowned, finding it vaguely familiar. "Isn't that—"

"Yeah," he nodded in affirmation. "The Empire's latest inspiration for a monster."

I took it from his hand, it was a really beautiful piece. "How did you end up being this inspiration?" I asked him teasingly.

"It's not mine. It belongs to Emily actually."

I jerked my head up. "Emily?"

"Yeah. She's—" he broke off, his eyebrows furrowed as he glanced at me. "I'm not sure if you've seen her around." He shrugged. "She's this girl that's been hanging around this group of bikers in town."

"The same ones that trashed Ernie's place?"

"Yeah," he answered, and I saw a deeper emotion flit across his eyes. "She's—" he broke off again and glanced at some point in the distance, then shook his head with a tiny smile. "Anyway, that's hers." He indicated the necklace I was holding.

I suddenly found the necklace to be in incredibly poor taste. "Here," my hand shot out and I dropped it in his. I watched as he pocketed it gently, and a hole opened at the bottom of my stomach. I looked away.

We walked the remainder of the way back to my house in silence. Jason had always been comfortable with silence, and aside from the little half-smiles that he shot at me every once in a while, he didn't make any attempt to break it. Me, on the other hand, I was battling a swirl of questions that I wanted to hurl at him. But even in my head they sounded unreasonable and uncharacteristic, not to mention out of place to the nth degree.

I opened my mouth and closed it for the umpteenth time.

"Kimberly?"

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, looking up to find him gazing down at me patiently. Yeah?"

"What is it?"

 _Busted._ I bit my lip hard. "Um. Nothing."

He raised a brow.

I blew out a breath. "Argh. Fine." My eyes darted in every direction, finding the trees, ground and stars infinitely more interesting than answering him.

He stopped me with a hand on my arm. "Kim, if there's something you need to talk about, I wanna know."

For a moment there I wished I could tell him everything. Every confusing, bewildering, perplexing moment from whenever it was that everything between me and Jason had gone from black and white to an emotion-jumbled grey. The only thing stopping me was that it was still black and white for him. I shuddered a breath, and pulled my gaze up to his midnight-dark one, finding nothing but sincerity and concern in his eyes.

I think I could stare into his eyes forever.

Blinking twice, I dragged my own to the front steps of my house. The windows were dark, and I assumed that my dad had either gone to bed or wasn't in. I walked up the driveway and sat on the top step. Jason followed after me, settling on the step below mine, so that we were eye to eye.

"I hurt myself bad in Florida," I told him, figuring that it was about time I came clean. Also, given a choice between this and the other thing that was really on my mind, I'd rather talk about this.

I felt him tense and reached out to lay a hand on his forearm. "It's okay."

I reached down to roll up the cuffs on my jeans, angling my foot so that he could see. It was a clean, surgical cut, so it had healed over nicely.

His fingers skated over the four-inch scar that lined the back of my foot. I shivered.

Glancing up at me with a slight frown, he asked, "Cold?" It was about 90 degrees out.

"Um. Stray breeze," I lied.

He looked skeptical, but nodded anyway. "When did this happen, Kim?"

My features clouded over. Ducking my head, I pulled my foot gently out of his grasp. "Two, maybe three months ago."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked me in a low voice.

I faltered.

"Didn't you think that I would've wanted to know?"

How could I tell him? He would have came straight over then and there, and I simply couldn't have dealt with it. Not when I had needed so desperately to sort myself out, me and my new _feelings._ I had needed the distance.

Fat lot of good it did though.

"I..."

He let out a deep sigh and rubbed the back of his neck, staring bleakly at the empty street in front of my house.

I felt a little tear in my heart. I hadn't known that it would have affected him so much. "Jase..."

He shook his head slightly, ducking down and sparing me a backwards glance. "I'm sorry," he told me, and my heart gave a wrench. "I should've done more... _Known_ that something wasn't right."

"God, _no,_ you can't possibly— _No_ ," I burst out, reaching out to grab his arm. My hand barely closed around a third of his bicep. I scooted closer. "Please, Jase." No way I was letting him tack this on himself.

He turned around to look at me, shifting suddenly. "It's why you broke up with Tommy, isn't it? A some- _thing_ , not a some _one_."

I looked away. I didn't know what to tell him. Jason had no fault in it, it was my decision and mine alone. And as long as I had breath in my body, he would never find out why. It would destroy him.

"Yes. No... Maybe."

"Oh, Kim." He reached for my face and I let him, sinking my cheek into his hand, loving the feel of the calluses on my skin. He sighed heavily.

"Jason, it would have happened anyway."

I caught his hand before he withdrew it, twining our fingers together. He stared at our entwined fingers for a split second before meeting my eyes. "Would it?"

I drew in a slow breath. "Yes," I said. "My feelings for him changed."

His lips quirked slightly, but his words were anything but amused. "Into brotherly ones?"

"You heard, huh?"

"Everyone heard, Kim. But Tommy..." he sighed. "Tommy, he told me himself." He pulled his hand away to rub them over his eyes, and I curled my empty fingers into my palm. He said, turning to me with sympathy in his gaze, "I just don't think he appreciated the choice of wording that's all."

Tommy... "How is he?" I asked softly.

He smiled wryly. "I'm surprised it took you so long to ask. But to answer your question, he's doing okay." His voice took on a heavier tone when he spoke his next few words. "I don't think he's completely over you though."

I hung my head, feeling absolutely wretched. "I never meant to hurt him. I still hate that I do, Jase."

He nodded pensively. He was a great friend, to both Tommy and me, and I felt terrible about the position that he was forced to be in. He spoke before I could say anything, to apologize to him or something, anything.

"Hey, he'll be okay don't worry." Leaning over, he gave me a brief one-armed hug. "The heart chooses whomever it chooses."

His words struck a little too close to home. My eyes traced the line of his rugged profile before I closed my eyes and looked away.

"I guess it does," I whispered.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up a few mornings later to slight vibrations running through the ground. Immediately alert, I ran down to the living room where I fumbled with the remote to turn on the television.

 _"—happening in downtown Angel Grove. The Power Rangers have been battling a monster—reports have revealed its name to be Midas, and it does not look good. Now the question on all our minds is, 'Where is the Gold Ranger?'"_

My heart thudded as I watched the live stream on the news. It was a different experience when I was in the battle with them. I realized now that I really hated the position I was in. A loud boom sounded. The television screen went white for a moment and I suffered a mini anxiety attack until the stream came back on again.

No news of Jason.

I watched the shaky footage as the battle raged on, and the news crawl at the bottom of the screen cautioned all citizens to stay at home or indoors.

 _"We interrupt this broadcast to feature a video taken by a diner at the newly opened Beach Club by the lake."_

The screen changed to feature a grainy video clearly taken by a handheld camcorder of the chaos that ensued earlier during the day. At first, I couldn't really make sense of what was happening, with all the people running around, not to mention the less than steady hands of the person recording the scene. Then I noticed six particular someones who were herding people to safety and fighting off Cogs instead of running away like everyone else. It was at this point that the camera had evidently fallen to the ground, abandoned by its owner, and the scene was still being recorded.

It was quite some distance off, and the quality of the video was laughable at best, so no one who didn't know the six of them like I do, would ever be able to place them. But I knew those six, and I knew the one that herded them together and pushed them all behind him _especially_ well.

And then unbelievably, I watched as a brilliant beam shot out with single intent from a weird looking dog-like object and the figure in black got turned into gold.

Literal, elemental, metallic _gold_.

Someone bumped into him and he toppled over stiffly with a heavy thud.

My heart stopped. And then it leapt to my mouth and had I not been made of sterner stuff I would've fainted dead away. I watched as the remaining five rallied around and teleported their frozen sixth out in streaks of colored light.

 _"It looks like the mystery of why the Gold Ranger hasn't made an appearance has been answered. We do not know as of now—"_

I tuned the newscaster out as they resumed playing the broadcast of the ensuing battle. Hands shaking, I cast around for the phone, unsure of who to call, my mind a whirling blur. Somehow I managed to hit the redial button, a miracle considering that my fingers were all thumbs by now, and thankfully, _thankfully_ it was Zack who answered. I sent up a hundred thank you's that I had called to speak to him and Trini last night.

"Hell-o?" he called out.

"Ohmygodtheyturnedhimintosolidgold."

"What?"

"Jason!" I wailed, finally letting myself go. "He got turned to gold!"

A beat, then, "Like, literally?"

"Yes! Yes _literally_!"

"Okay. Woah, okay this is bad. Um, shit, what else do you know?"

" _What else do I know?_ " I screeched. "I know nothing! I don't have a communicator! I can't reach Billy! I can't teleport! _I don't know what to do!"_

"Kim! Calm down. Deep breaths now."

"He could be dead!" I started hyperventilating down the line. "People who get turned into metal usually end up dead! Don't you watch TV?!"

"What! Don't say that! That's not cool man, you can't go around sayin' stuff lik—" There was a scuffle and I took in big gulps of air trying to stop bad, bad images from coming to my mind.

"Kim?" The cool tones of Trini soon came over the line. It was apparent that Zack had surrendered me to her superior calming ability.

"Trini!"

"Kim, look, I know it looks bad but it'll be fine, I'm sure of it."

"How! How can you be sure?" I demanded, and then I changed tactics and squeezed my eyes shut, praying fervently to the Almighty. "Ohmigod, please, I'll never tell a lie again. I'll never go shopping again. I'll give all my shoes away and do charitable work for the rest of my life."

I heard Trini's soft chuckle and my eyes popped open in a furious glare. " _Don't laugh about this._ "

"Kim. I know it's bad but it's a spell. They usually get broken when the monster gets destroyed or when Billy figures out a way to reverse it. And he will. Trust me."

"It's Jason," I wailed again.

"Precisely," she said, with quiet certainty. "If anyone can survive this, it would be him."

"You don't know that."

"I know you though. I know you'd fight Zedd and Mondo yourself if that's what it takes to bring Jason back."

I closed my eyes.

"And yes, I know Jase too. We all do. Kim, you've got to remember that he was our leader, the best of us all. He's been through so much more than this and Billy. Billy will find a way."

"I love you, Trini."

She laughed. "Love ya too, Kim."

"God, I'm so worried."

"You wouldn't be you if you didn't."

That made me crack a reluctant smile. "I wish I could get to the Power Chamber somehow," I mumbled.

"Me too," she whispered.

We sat in silence as I stared at the muted TV and tried to ignore the continuing vibrations in the ground.

After awhile I broke it and asked, "Put Zack back on?"

She did, and he came over the line.

"I hate you, I muttered. "You always make me overreact."

"What?! I do not," he said, sounding miffed.

"You do," I insisted. "You know you do. We play off each other and then we both escalate into a slobbering mess."

"We're bad for each other," he agreed after a moment's thought.

"The worst," I echoed fervently.

I heard him sigh and the soft sounds of his television came through the line. "I hate being on this side of the screen," he said gruffly.

"Yeah."

"Trini's trying to reach Billy," he offered.

"I doubt she can," I said morosely. "They really should install a land line there. Or at the very least, allow us to keep our communicators."

"Guys! Zack! Look!" I heard Trini shout in the background.

I scrambled for the remote and turned up the volume on my television. "No no nooooo," I moaned helplessly as I saw the Midas Hound turn parts of the Zeo Zord into solid gold. "Come on you guys! Break free break free!"

The team tried, but couldn't. With its left arm and both legs frozen solid, there was little it could do to free itself. Zack and Trini had both fallen silent, and I knew that the Rangers were running out of options.

They took hit after hit, and sparks flew as the Zord tried to get itself under control. I wasn't with them, but images and the sounds of all the battles that I had been in started to resonate in my head. I imagined Tanya and Kat screaming. I could see Tommy yelling at the team to hang on. I could picture Adam, soft-spoken and shy, always offering suggestions; an alternative. And Rocky, cracking a joke, always the clown, anything to keep up morale.

The Zord came crashing down, having lost function of both its legs and something exploded in a burst of flames. A small counter at the top of the television screen blinked on, reflecting the number of confirmed civilian deaths, and all I could do was hope that Tommy would be able to do something miraculous and keep that number in the single digits.

I could hear Zack's heavy breathing on the phone which I had in a death grip. The muted tones of Trini floated through to me, "What can they do?"

"I dunno," Zack replied. "I'd abandon ship. Regroup. I think only Zord Five is functionally mobile."

"Tommy's?" Trini asked.

"Yeah," Zack said. "But if he chooses to detach from the Megazord, the other four are sitting ducks." His voice grew ominously low. "I dunno if Tommy can destroy the Hound before it destroys the rest."

"Well, shit," came Trini's fitting answer.

The Hound shot another round of fire at them, and the lights in the cockpit of the Megazord started to flicker in warning. The camera zoomed in as much as it could, and we could make out extremely blurry images of the Rangers scrambling to unstrap themselves from their seats.

"Guys... I think— I think Rocky's trapped." I squinted at the screen, trying to make sense of the images, but the resolution was too low. All I could go on was my own knowledge of the Rangers' positions in the cockpit, and even that was fuzzy at best, for I had never been inside the Zeo Megazord. But it definitely looked like they were trying to abandon the Zord, and one of them was definitely trapped.

Zack exhaled sharply. "I think you're right." He sounded grim.

"Shit," said Trini.

A loud explosion rocked the very ground I was on, and I saw the Hound knock the newly summoned Red Battlezord straight out of the sky.

Zack spewed forth a string of expletives, followed by, "Dammit, c'mon Tommy!"

"It's controlled telekinetically. He's got to keep his mind clear," said Trini matter-of-factly. "It's probably really hard to do now."

We watched as Tommy tried to revive the Battlezord. We saw it struggle to stand and engage the Hound. A blast flew forward and the Battlezord flew fifty feet backwards.

"C'mon Zordon," Zack said. I could hear him pacing now, and probably trying hard not to panic. "I don't think they'll last much longer."

Silence from Trini.

"There's still Jason," I stated quietly.

Zack blew out a heavy breath in reply. "Yeah, and they made damn sure he's the first one they took out. Wonder why, huh." His words were dark and foreboding.

A cold hand gripped my spine at the implications of it.

The thing was, up until then I had never actually witnessed these Triforian Powers of Gold in action. On some level, I understood that it was beyond anything that any Ranger had encountered, possessed, or wielded before, but that was pretty much the extent of it.

 _It_ rose out of the mist with a giant rumble, an absolute, freaking marvel of a machine, ten times the size of any that I had ever seen before. It took me a minute, maybe several, for my brain to register what my eyes were seeing.

And when I finally realised that what I was actually seeing was in fact, the personal Zord of the Gold Ranger, I vaulted to my knees as my jaw dropped to the ground.

"Is that... Is that a _Pyramid_?"

"Holy shit," Zack breathed, "I think it is."

My eyes were glued to the screen, my breaths coming out faster as I realized that the appearance of Pyramidas could only mean one thing. " _Jason_."

And then with a relieved cry, "Zack! Zack, he's okay!"

"Yeah. Yeah I think so too." He sounded distracted and with the events unfolding on the screen it wasn't hard to see why. "Oh my Jesus did you _see that_?!" he yelled excitedly, and from the sounds coming through the line I wouldn't be surprised if he was gesticulating wildly. "He threw a _lightning bolt_! Blasted that damn thing to bits!"

"Yeah Jason!" I heard Trini cheer in the background.

The battle took on a new direction and the Rangers were able to find their advantage. With Jason and Pyramidas on their side, it was clear that Tommy could finally get proper control of the Red Battlezord. They did it together, Jason and Tommy, just like old times, blowing the Midas Hound to smithereens.

It was over within ten minutes. I was so relieved my knees were weak. Also, I was fast coming to realize that I was definitely not the cheer from the sidelines or wait at home kind of girl.

I grabbed my keys and headed out the door. I needed to see that Jason was safe.

* * *

He was safe, though not exactly where I had expected to find him.

I had been waiting at the lobby of one of the apartment dormitories at Angel Grove University for over an hour when he finally showed up, looking a little weathered around the edges but otherwise alive and breathing and made of flesh and blood.

I attacked him with a hug that threw him back a step. "I'm so glad you're okay," I wheezed out. "Billy said that there should be no lasting effects, and he got you back good." I released my choke hold around his neck to hold his face between my hands, peering into his eyes as if I could see inside his head. "You're okay, right? Do you feel any different? Do you know who I am?"

He looked down at me in amusement. "I'm fine, Kim, really. Billy got me back good," he echoed my words.

I nodded my head spastically. "Right. Right, good good." And then I pulled back and smacked a hand hard at his chest. "What the hell, Jase! I saw you on the news! Pushing the others behind you! _Totally_ admirable, but do you actually think you can bounce enemy fire off that shiny gold breast plate of yours?!"

His mouth opened but I stuck a finger in his face before he could defend himself. "But _wait_ , you _weren't_ wearing armor, were you?! You weren't even _morphed_!"

He opened his mouth again and then closed it. "You've got a point there," he conceded.

"I-," my mouth snapped shut and I gaped at him. "You're not gonna protest?" I said disbelievingly. "Say something noble and commendable about bravery and loyalty and-" I waved my hand in the air.

"Nope." He placed a hand on my back and guided me to the elevators. He hit the button for the 6th floor and the elevator started to rise. "How long have you been waiting?" he asked me, a twinkle in his eye.

I crossed my arms, eyeing him. "Is there something about this that amuses you?"

A smile touched the corner of his mouth and he looked away from me. "You'll always be my Pink, you know."

I softened, tucking my hair behind my ear. "Always, Jase."

The elevator dinged and he led the way down the brightly lit corridor, stopping at the third door on the left.

"Your mom told me you were living here now," I said as Jason opened the door.

"Yeah, ever since I got back. They're leaving this Sunday, and the house is too big for me alone."

Jason's dad was a Marine, so he got moved a lot. Not so much when Jason was younger, but in the last year or more when Jason got sent to Europe, his dad was more receptive to overseas postings since they didn't have much of a reason to stay in Angel Grove anymore.

He stepped aside to let me in before him and I took in the spacious room before me.

The walls were navy and contrasted tastefully with the pale cream of the floorboards. There was a desk off to one corner next to the bed and the shelves on the far wall of the room were heavy with books and Jason's martial arts trophies.

"Nice," I commented.

"Yep," he agreed, "there's even a kitchenette over there" —he indicated with his thumb— "and a tiny balcony which doubles as a fire escape." He lifted his shoulders in a mischievous shrug. "Being one of the lead delegates at the Peace Conference definitely has its perks."

"You mean..." I trailed off, looking around with my hands on my hips, eyebrows raised in question.

"Uh-huh," he said, opening a small fridge and retrieving two bottles of water. He opened one and handed it to me. "The Peace Conference is affiliated to the UN, and they've got ties to several universities in the state. Luckily for me, AGU happened to be one of them, so I get to stay at the apartment dormitories here."

I walked over to the windows, they were big and stretched along three-quarters of the left wall, so they let in a lot of light. The sprawling campus of Angel Grove University spread out before me below.

"Very nice," I murmured.

He came to stand next to me, close enough that our shoulders were touching. "Sorry you had to wait so long. I went to check on Emily, but I'd have gotten here sooner if I'd known you were waiting."

I froze. "Emily?"

"Yeah. She was working at the Beach Club when the Cogs attacked. I wanted to make sure she was okay."

The view I was admiring earlier shifted out of focus. I cleared my throat. "You guys are getting pretty close, huh."

He glanced at me and took a drink from his bottle. "I'd like to get closer," he said with a wink. "But...I dunno." He left it at that with a lift of one shoulder.

I heard him rummaging around the room before the door to the bathroom opened and he mentioned something about a shower. A few minutes later, I heard the shower come on and I sank somewhere deep into my own thoughts.

Just how did I let it get so far? My feelings for Jason were supposed to be a crazy, spur of the moment, temporary thing that would disappear the moment I got a grip on myself. It was supposed to disappear when I cut myself off from him since I left Switzerland. It was supposed to be under control when I hurt myself and went radio-silent on everyone. It was supposed to be background noise when I had rushed back to Angel Grove for him.

But it didn't disappear. It wasn't under control. It wouldn't remain friggin' background noise.

Maybe, I thought desperately, _maybe_ I could let it become a constant hum. I could deal with a constant hum.

I think.

The shower squeaked off and Jason emerged a few moments later with a towel around his lean waist.

 _Oh, please cut me some slack. I'm_ trying _here!_

He came to stand by me again, toweling his hair dry with a smaller one. "Kimberly?"

I tried not to look at him. "Uh-huh?" I said, wincing at the squeakiness of my voice.

"You haven't moved."

"Huh."

"It's not like you. You're a ball of energy. You never keep still." He reached the back of his hand out to my neck.

I probably jumped three feet in the air at the contact. "Jesus," I cried when I landed again, "you scared me!"

He looked at me with an odd expression, toweling his hair slowly. "Are you sick? You felt warm. And you look a little flushed." He reached the back of his hand out towards me again and I ducked to avoid his touch.

"I'm fine."

He looked like he didn't believe me, but he said, "Okay..."

He turned and headed to the tiny kitchen. "You hungry? I've got leftover pizza." He opened the fridge and observed its contents, and after a few seconds, spoke over his shoulder, "You know what? Let's just get Chinese from your favorite place."

I heard him grab the phone and dial the number. He placed our orders and hung up, coming to stand behind me.

"Kim?"

"Yeah?"

"You still haven't moved."

I turned around to look at him. "Jase?"

"Yeah?"

"Put a shirt on."

He shook his head bemusedly. "Funny, it never bothered you before," he grumbled, grabbing one and pulling it over his head.

"Pants too," I called after him.

He shot me a dark look over his shoulder and stalked off to the bathroom with his favorite pair of sweats in hand.

He drove me home after dinner, even though I wanted to call a cab. He pulled up at my doorstep, and frowned to see that the lights in the house were off again.

"Where's your dad, Kim?"

"He had some overnight business trip out of town."

"You'll be alone here tonight then?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it's really not that big of a deal. When Mom moved out, Dad started working late all the time. I only ever saw him for an hour or two each night. If at all."

"Did Tommy know this?"

I shrugged. "It never really came up." I was young then, and between the responsibilities of being a Ranger and gymnastics and school, not to mention the drama that usually surrounded Tommy and his powers, stuff at home just never featured too broadly on the list of things that I shared with him.

Jason was staring hard at the house. "Don't like this, Kim."

I let out a soft laugh. "What's not to like? I can blast music from my stereo and Dad won't be home to complain." I unbuckled my seat belt and reached over to squeeze his hand where it rested on the gearstick. "Night, Jase. Thanks for the lift home."

His fingers closed about my wrist just as I was exiting his car. I yelped as I lost my balance and fell back on the seat. "Hey!"

He ignored my protest. "Grab your stuff, you're spending the night at my place."

"You've got to be kidding," I groaned.

"No, I'm really not," he said seriously.

"Jason."

"Kimberly," he returned, and the finality in his tone brook no argument.

I blew out a breath. "Alright."

He killed the engine and came into the house with me, a step behind as I entered my room and flipped the lights on.

"Do you really think I'm gonna be attacked in my own house?" I threw over my shoulder at him.

He settled himself on my bed, looking out of place in the fluffy pastel-y frilliness that was my home ground. "I wouldn't put it past you," he said dryly, turning around and fluffing up one of the too many pillows I had on my bed.

I rolled my eyes as I flipped through my closet, yanking out clothes and throwing them over his legs on the bed.

"Y'know, I don't know why I can't ever get my bed to be as comfy as yours," he muttered, sinking into the mountain of pillows.

I smirked, eyeing a lilac skirt and wondering if I would be in a lilac sort of mood tomorrow. "And you wonder why I don't want to spend the night at your place."

"My place is safer," he mumbled, "it's got two points of entry, and I sleep with one eye open."

I snorted. Though that might very well be true, he was an exceptionally light sleeper. "Well, the kind of things that wanna kill us don't tend to use doors," I said under my breath.

I grabbed two more tops and pulled out a duffel, thinking that four outfits should give me enough options to cover any mood that I should awaken to find myself in.

I turned around, about to head to the bathroom to grab my toothbrush when I saw that he had fallen asleep.

I don't know how long I stood there, just watching him sleep, vowing that I would do whatever it was to keep him safe. Realizing that I would give my life to keep him from harm. Wondering if the next alien that Mondo would send after him would be the one to finish him off.

I bit my lip hard, shaking those thoughts from my mind. Gently, I picked the clothes I had rained over him earlier and put them aside.

I waited till the last possible moment before I turned off the lights and crawled in next to him. He woke just as I knew he would, turning to me as I lifted his arm and placed my head on his chest.

"Kimberly?" It came out an octave lower and gruffer than usual.

"Shh. Go back to sleep."

He made to get up but I slung a leg over his, stubbornly refusing to budge. "You're not taking the floor, I no longer have a boyfriend. And you're exhausted, so just shut up and go to sleep."

He mumbled something I didn't quite catch, but I saw a small smile on his lips as he settled back down. A giant yawn escaped him which tugged at my heart. Within seconds, he had fallen back to sleep.

I snuggled into his side, content with where I was, and shifted my head to a specific spot over his chest, just above the sound of his beating heart.


	6. Chapter 6

Unlike Jason, I pretty much slept like the dead. It was no surprise to wake up the next morning to find that Jason was up and had left the room, and I had slept through it all.

Pushing the covers aside, I sat up slowly, then tentatively placed my left, and then my right foot on the floor. Ever since the surgery, I've found that the first step of the day was usually the hardest, and I was still trying to come to terms with it.

 _Deep breath in, deep breath out._

I clutched the edge of the bedside table and hauled myself up. A pain shot up through the back of my ankle that nearly sent me toppling backwards.

 _Breathe Kim, breathe._

I shifted my weight on to my left foot, and lightly stretched out the right before attempting my second step. And then, the third. By the fifth one my muscles had limbered up sufficiently and I was able to straighten and walk normally again.

The familiar soft clacking sound that wood made against concrete floated upwards through my open window, and I made my way over to it. It was Jason, halfway into an intricate kata. He was training with a long wooden pole, which I recognized as formerly being the handle of my trusty garden rake.

I watched him go through the movements, picking out the stances I knew as he flowed from one into another. He approached his last set, and spun around with practiced grace, twirling the makeshift staff with ease and finished strongly with its tail end melded under an arm.

As always, he brought both feet back in line and executed a crisp bow from the waist. He looked up and offered me a bright smile, and I understood that he knew that I'd been watching for a while.

"Hey, Early Bird," he greeted me. "Back to the land of the living?"

The witty retort I had formulated died on my lips as I watched shadows play on the muscles of his back. A stray beam of morning sun had caught him, turning the warmth of his skin a deep gold. He bent over to grab the head of the rake and turned back around to fix the handle back where it belonged.

"Come on down." He lifted his chin towards the back of the house. "There's coffee in the kitchen."

* * *

He had a whole pot of fresh coffee and a steaming cup of tea on the table as I entered it about twenty minutes later. Wonderful smells and the sound of something sizzling in a hot pan wafted around the kitchen.

I inhaled deeply. I could get used to this.

He heard me enter and looked up from the stove where he was busy scrambling eggs for breakfast. "Morning," he said with an easy smile.

I made my way over to the table and inspected the green brew next to my coffee. "This is from the jar of leaves I keep for you, right?"

He cast a look over his shoulder. "If you mean the jar on the first shelf of that cabinet, then yeah."

I reached around him for the sugar bowl, satisfied that he had gotten _his_ morning cuppa. Green tea, a special blend that I had stocked up just for him, courtesy of Adam's extended family in Korea.

My hand lingered around his body for a moment, and I took the excuse of overseeing the scrambling of the eggs to hover next to him. The salty tang of sweat and man and something belonging just to him teased my senses.

He looked down past his shoulder at me. "I'm not gonna burn them you know," he said, humor evident in his voice.

"I know," I said.

"Huh. Well you're observing a little too closely for me to take you seriously."

My eyes dropped to his lips. It was something I found myself doing very often recently. "Hmmm?" I murmured distractedly.

He shook his head and pushed the sugar bowl into my hand. "Here," he said, "you always did like too much of the stuff."

My fingers closed around the cold ceramic of the bowl, and I pulled myself to step away, dumping three full spoons of sugar into my coffee and adding a generous splash of milk.

He deposited two plates on the table and I pulled mine towards me, sipping my coffee as I watched him devour his eggs. I decided that I liked to see him eat.

"Any plans for today?" he asked, with a quick look up in my direction.

I shook my head in the negative. "No. You?"

He swallowed a mouthful and took a sip of his tea. "Want to spend it with me?"

I nodded eagerly. "Yeah. I'd like that, Jase."

"Okay. I wanna take you some place." He pushed my plate towards me. "Eat up, you'll need the energy. We might have to walk for a bit."

* * *

 _Two hours later_

"Are we there yet?" I whined, pushing my hair out of my eyes.

Jason was three steps ahead, navigating his way across the thick undergrowth with ease.

He turned halfway back around. "Almost." His eyes fell upon my right foot. "Is your leg giving you trouble?" he asked, not without concern.

"No, but these mosquitoes are." I swatted another one out of my face. "Hate these suckers."

Dried leaves crunched underfoot as he took the few steps back to me. "Come on," he said, giving me his hand, "it's something I really want you to see."

My hand closed over his, and he tugged me along gently. "Okay, Jase."

I began to notice how clean the air was here, how crisp everything sounded away from the noise and hubbub of the city. A birdsong echoed faintly throughout the trees, and I strained to pick up more of its melody.

I shifted my hand in his, interlocking our fingers and feeling his quiet strength in that simple gesture. He looked down and smiled at me, "Almost there, I promise."

Five minutes later and the scenery changed. The undergrowth lightened and then cleared, so all that we were standing on was wild grass. Stray flowers peaked out in tufts from here and there, dotting the carpet of endless green with splotches of vibrant color.

I released his hand in awe. "What is this place," I asked him, lifting my head up to take on towering trees that grew around a small copse in the middle of the woods.

His hands came to rest on his hips, and he lifted his head to follow my gaze up the trees above. He spared me a glance, then said, "The Grove."

I turned my eyes to him. "The Grove?" I echoed.

He nodded. "Yep." A rather enigmatic smile came to play across his lips. "It's what this town was named after."

My eyebrows shot up. I had never heard this before.

He tilted his head, "Come," he said.

I followed him into the line of trees that grew in a haphazard circle around the clearing.

"Woah," I breathed, as a towering statue came into view, hidden just behind the large trunk of a sprawling tree.

It soared above me, nearly three times Jason's height, and from the looks of it, could have been here for centuries, just hidden away, behind the gnarled trunk of the equally old tree.

Chunks of it had fallen off, and moss and lichen covered most of its surface, but its form was clear, and I could make out wings and a sword, held in the statue's right hand, and raised like a Seraph Knight in battle.

Jason nudged a block of stone aside with the side of his foot, moving closer to the statue. "People say that this was the Archangel Michael, sworn defender of humanity, and guardian angel of the city."

I ran a hand over the smooth surface of the exposed stone, its coolness a pleasant contrast to the heat of my palm.

"He appeared one day, according to lore, just when Earth's soldiers were on the cusp of defeat, shot a lightning bolt with a swing of his sword and defeated the enemy."

My eyes were wide. I had never heard this before and it fascinated me. "Do you think it's true?" I asked in hushed tones.

His eyes crinkled as he smiled. "I don't know, Kim, but that's what I heard." He placed a hand on the statue's right leg above the pedestal where it stood on. "What I _do_ know though, is this."

I watched as he pulled himself up on the stand, and held a hand out for me to follow suit. I grabbed hold of his outstretched hand, and he pulled me effortlessly up next to him.

"Put your left foot there, and hold on to this," he instructed.

"I'm a gymnast," I told him dryly. "We _wrote_ the handbook on balance."

He laughed. "Right." His hand went to the small of my back anyway, to make sure I had gotten a proper foothold before he raised it high above our heads to brush at the crawling fauna above the warrior's chest.

It was difficult to make out at first, with the years and elements that had weathered at the what must have once been glorious tribute to a mystical being that the people had revered. But as I frowned and squinted, my eyes found notches that it knew to look for, and flowing lines that curved into a pattern that I was intimately familiar with.

I sucked in a breath in amazement.

"Jase..." I turned eyes as large as saucers towards him. "Is that...?"

He nodded, his dark gaze fixed on the symbol. "I believe it is."

A large ornate circle was carved into the stone. Even to my untrained eye, the detail on it would have been astounding. It was worn by time, chipped in certain places, but the open-jawed roar of the Tyrannosaurus was clear from its prominent place at the top. My eyes searched for where I knew my Pterodactyl to be, just below Jason's to the right, and a single tusk belonging to the Mastodon bisected the bottom left quarter of the circle.

I reached for it, my fingers tracing the symbol, and I swore I could feel its power run through my veins. I looked back up at the statue, and turned back around with a leap to the ground, suddenly keen on seeing it again, and seeing it as a whole.

Jason followed suit, landing nimbly and came to stand by me. We looked at the statue together in reverent silence.

"It's us. It's the Megazord."

I turned to see him nodding his head slowly. "Not _us_ , but yes... it's the Megazord."

"How-" I broke off abruptly and swallowed my words, deciding at that moment that I didn't want to know.

He glanced at me, understanding at once. Some secrets were better kept secrets. "Zordon would have told us if he wanted us to know," he agreed quietly.

My eyes returned to the statue, noting the outspread wings that had been sculpted on to it.

"Angel Grove," I mused out loud, still a little in awe. "They thought it was an angel. An actual angel."

"Yeah," Jason said in reply. "Sent to save their city from ruin."

A smile crept across my face, the romantic in me embracing the story. "I love it." I sighed, feeling an intense contentment fill my soul.

He had an answering smile on his face as he looked at me. "I knew you'd love it." He reached across gently and slung a heavy arm around my shoulders. "Worth it?"

I tinkled out a delighted laugh. "A thousand times yes. I love a good story. And this is just magical." I took in a deep breath, fluttering my eyes close, struck by the magic of this place. I heard his quiet breathing beside me and I stopped to elbow him in the ribs. "Definitely worth the hike and the mosquitoes."

He nodded in satisfaction, and brought his gaze back to the statue in the grove.

My eyes traced the line of his profile, along the strength of his jaw and across the sensual outline of his lips. The sun chose that moment to come out, and it filtered down in golden shafts through the leaves in the trees. Bits of a similar gold skated over the black of his hair and turned the midnight of his eyes into a warm deep brown. He must have felt me staring at him, for he turned down and smiled that smile that I was fast coming to live for.

I felt the world shift in that moment, and a dam inside me broke. With it came an understanding, a quiet acceptance that I was never ever going to be getting out of this.

I had fallen in love with my best friend.

What made it so hard, so _impossible_ , was that he was also the best friend of my ex-boyfriend.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Kimberly**_

"Kim?"

I froze.

"Kimberly, is that you?"

 _Oh crap_. By instinct I ducked my head and swiveled around, quickly making a beeline for the nearest exit. On hindsight, I suppose that in doing that I might as well have carried a blinking neon sign that screamed "YES THIS IS ME. KIMBERLY HART" in big bold letters.

A hand reached out and caught me about the elbow about ten feet away from the doors. "Kim! It is you!" a very golden, very tall, Katherine Hillard beamed.

I glanced longingly towards my escape exit. "Oh, hi Kat," I offered, mustering a less than enthusiastic smile in return.

"What're you doing back? Gosh, no one said anything!"

"Uh, yeah. About that. You see—"

I was interrupted when another equally golden, not quite as tall, very familiar girl appeared at her side.

"Em," said Katherine, turning to her, "this is Kim Hart. She used to go to school here, and is a close friend of Jason's."

"Oh!" said Emily, brightening at the mention of Jason's name. I won't kid myself by thinking it's because I'm famous. "It's great to meet you. I'm Emily. Emily Collins," she smiled.

Her eyes were a stunning shade of not just blue, not just green, but _aquamarine._ Life was _not_ fair.

I took her outstretched hand and shook it, trying to look like I was as excited about meeting her as she apparently was about meeting me.

"Emily and I were just shopping," Kat told me, as if I hadn't already figured it out.

"Yeah," Emily chimed in, "There's this thing at the beach tonight, and Jason asked me to go with him."

A sour taste flooded my mouth.

"Come with us!" Kat said, "Everyone's gonna be there."

I've never been very good at hiding my emotions, and Kat had always been more sensitive than most. Frowning slightly at the expressions that must have filtered across my face, she masterfully directed Emily's attention to some 'to die for' sparkly dress that would look 'simply amazing' on her.

Off Emily went, and Kat took my arm, steering me, albeit with some reluctance on my part, to the opposite side of the store.

I busied myself looking at the scarves on display.

"Kim?" she began hesitantly. "This isn't some random visit, is it?"

I was trying to figure out how little to tell her without appearing downright rude. A sigh escaped me, and not for the first time I questioned the intelligence of perpetuating my little white lie.

"I'm sorry," she said abruptly, and I looked at her in surprise. She appeared genuinely upset, and her words came out in a rush. "I shouldn't have charged you like that. I didn't think— I was just excited to see you."

I instantly felt bad. "Kat, no. Please. It's great to see you too, and I mean it. It's just that—" I broke off, wondering how best to explain everything.

"You— you don't have to explain anything to me," she offered tentatively.

"No! I mean, it's just, you caught me off-guard," I said, blowing out a breath, "and I didn't really want anyone to know that I was back."

She looked confused but then her brow cleared as she said, "Tommy."

I nodded with a wry smile. "Can of worms and all that, you know." I trailed my fingers down a scarf, its deep red color reminding me of Jason. I looked up to meet her eyes. "The thing is... I came back to keep an eye on Jason," I told her truthfully.

Surprise registered on her face and I leaned back on my heels, running a jerky hand through my hair. "It's these new powers. I don't trust them."

"You left Florida 'cos you're worried about his powers?"

I offered her a strained smile. "Things back in Florida got complicated anyway."

She gave me a long look which made me feel uncomfortable. I broke eye contact and fished about in my purse for some random object just to break my discomfort. So intent was my search for this imaginary random object that she nearly startled me when her hand came to rest on my arm.

"Kim. If ever—," she broke off awkwardly and then tried again. "If ever you need anything, I—I'm very good at being a friend."

There was nothing but kindness in her gaze and I was moved beyond words.

"I know we never really got the chance to know each other very well. But... You were a great ranger, and the others... Adam, Rocky and... Tommy...," she stopped, giving me a small smile. "You're missed, that's all."

I couldn't formulate a proper reply, so I just stared at her.

Her smile wavered, and then got awkward, and it was obvious that this had become uncomfortable for her too. "Um," she said, gesturing vaguely behind her, "I should get going. And... Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, I promise."

She touched my hand lightly and then turned to go.

She had gotten about three steps before I called after her. "Kat."

She turned back around, a question in her eyes.

I cleared my throat. "Uh... You know... Tommy..." I lifted my hand lamely, wondering how I was going to phrase this.

She gave a slight nod, turning more fully around to face me.

"He's just.. He's lucky to have you," I said with quiet sincerity, hoping that she understood what I was implying.

She started, and hurriedly said, "No, Kim, it's not like that—"

I interrupted her, walking forward to give her hand a squeeze. "I'm just saying, it's okay."

She looked lost for a moment, searching my expression. I smiled at her reassuringly.

"Kim," she said softly, "you know that he's probably still in love with you, right?"

I didn't think that the day would come when I would actually hurt to hear anyone say that. But it did. I never wanted to cause Tommy any pain, but it wouldn't be fair to him if we had gone on as we had.

I looked away. "Maybe," I finally said, "but... We grew up, and we grew apart, and I... It's just... different for me now."

I found her looking at me empathetically. She nodded, "Okay."

I nodded too. "Okay," I echoed.

She smiled once more and then left, and I watched as her blonde head disappeared amongst the crowd of people at the store.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Kimberly**_

"Again?" I echoed, half in disbelief, as I sat up from where I had been previously nestled under cozy covers on my bed. The clock read 4:30 A.M..

Jason shoved a hair through his hair and came to sit on the edge of my bed. He looked tired and deep lines of worry were etched into his forehead, and clearly visible in the grim set of his mouth.

"Yeah," he confirmed, and buried his head in his hands.

I threw off the covers and reached for the bedside lamp, a soft _click_ bathing the entire room in a warm amber glow. "You've been searching for him all day?"

"Yes," he replied and looked up to meet my eyes. "I'm sorry, Kim, I didn't want to tell you until I absolutely had to."

I moved over to join him at the edge of the bed, drawing my knees up to my chest and circling my arms around them. I shook my head, still incredulous, and wondered just how it was possible that Tommy had managed to get himself kidnapped _yet again_.

"And you're saying, they think he got sucked into another dimension?"

"Yeah."

"Wow."

He shifted, and his arm came up around me to pull me close. "Don't worry, Kim," he said, giving my shoulder a squeeze. "I'll find him." Determination laced his every word.

I startled. _Oh no no no no no nooo._

"I'll find him," he repeated, resolution in his eyes and my heart started to pound.

"You mean, the Rangers will find him right? You and the team. _Together._ "

He shook his head. "No, I'll find him. I promise you this. I won't let you down again, I won't let _him_ down again."

A roaring started in my ears and I scrambled around to face him. "Jason, you listen to me, _please_ don't be stupid about this. Let Zordon or Billy or Alpha get the team some data or something concrete about the situation before you go charging off into another dimension."

He didn't appear to have heard me, and started mumbling to himself, eyes focused on some point in his head that only he could see. "It doesn't make sense... But I think—," They snapped back into focus. He straightened abruptly and I nearly fell off the bed. He caught me before I could, but his mind was clearly elsewhere.

"I need to go. I need to find Kat." he muttered suddenly.

"What, wait, what?"

He nodded distractedly. "She's nearly out of her mind with worry. And I've a hunch, I need to see it through."

I grabbed his wrist. "Jason—"

"Don't worry, Kim," he said again, and I started to wonder if it was more for my benefit, or his own. He pulled gently free from my vice-like grasp and bent to brush his lips across my forehead.

"Jase—"

He didn't hear me, and his right hand went to the communicator on his left wrist. "I'll get him back," he said, and those were his last words to me.

He dissipated into an inky streak of charged energy and teleported out of my bedroom, leaving me with my heart in my mouth; bright golden flashes from the signature of his exit still dancing before my eyes.

* * *

He disappeared for two days.

Two days.

It was forty-eight hours longer than what I was comfortable with, and two thousand eight hundred and eighty minutes of hand wringing, nail biting, hair-pulling _torture._

The only reason why I hadn't known that he had been back the very second that he did was because I had fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion when he finally did call, and the machine had picked it up.

I burst into his room at the dormitories with a near manic light in my eyes, grateful that the door at least wasn't locked. "Ohmigod, Jason I can't bel—"

Words died on my lips as I saw the massive bruising over his bare torso. Dark purple with ugly splotches, it covered half his rib cage and ran down the side of his body.

He took one look at my face and grabbed his shirt, but I was already rushing towards him.

"Oh my God, Jason," I cried, swatting his hands away when he tried to put on his shirt. "Don't."

He exhaled through his teeth. "It's nothing, Kim."

I hissed out a reply, "What do you mean nothing? What happened?" I reached out to touch it and he backed away slightly, wincing even as his hand closed around my wrist.

I looked sharply into his eyes and noted a haze of pain in his gaze. My fingers curled into my palm and I dug my nails into my flesh.

He let go of my wrist and lowered himself slowly into the chair, bracing himself with a palm on the edge of the table. He looked up at me briefly. "It was this gold goon. I heard them call him Altor. Big, ugly looking brute."

I went to sit on the desk next to him, watching silently as he opened a deep drawer at the side of the desk and pulled out a first aid kit. The suits usually protected the rangers from most of the damage, but the enemy was usually extremely strong, and the one that Jason fought must have been powerful enough to cause that kind of injury.

"What was different about this one?" I asked quietly.

"Uh, well, he had this long double ended lance."

"And?" I prompted, sensing more.

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. " _And_ ," the word came out on an exhale, "they had transferred Tommy's powers into him... So he knew my moves. Smacked me around a bit before I managed to send him packing."

"Jesus, Jase."

He shot me a grim smile before he got up and reached for a thick roll of bandages on the dresser. I saw his jaw tighten and knew he was fighting back pain.

I bit my lip, hard. When I got my emotions under control, I reached out to take the roll from him. "Here let me," I said, proud that I managed to keep my voice from wavering.

He relinquished the roll of bandages to me without fuss, and for that I was grateful.

I took a deep breath, feeling the rough surface of the cloth between my fingers, my heart wrenching because they hurt him so.

"Raise your arms," I told him softly, words coming out so soft it was a near caress.

He did and my hands went around him, circling the ridges of his waist and back again. The insides of my arms grazed his torso and I inhaled the warm scent of his skin. Round and round and back again. Stark white gauze against his golden form. Fine hair dusted the satin of his shoulders and chest and I was close enough to see it shift on the heat of my breath. My hands went around him and met again in front of him and suddenly my whole body was on fire.

 _Oh God._ I swallowed thickly. "Jason... I—"

I looked up to find his half-lidded gaze on me, an inscrutable expression on his face.

The air grew heavy between us, and my movements were not my own. I lowered my gaze and felt myself lean in closer to him, my lips a hair's breadth away from the pulse at the base of his neck.

"Kimberly," he murmured, that voice I loved so much sounding husky to my ears.

I closed my eyes and turned my face up, and his breath was hot on mine. I breathed him in, and the faint scent of perfume wafted up to me.

I frowned. Confused. _Perfume?_

I registered the sound of footsteps outside the door, and the next thing I knew, the door opened noisily.

I took a step back in dazed confusion, and I heard his name being called in honeyed syllables.

Jason was already shrugging a shirt on when I turned around to meet the blue-green gaze of the woman in his life.

"Em," he said, "hey. That was quick."

She smiled at him, and that smile turned uncertain when she turned her gaze on me.

"Kimberly," she said, sounding vaguely confused, "what're you doing here?"

I bristled. "What're _you_ doing here?"

She held up a bag, looking taken aback at the rudeness of my tone. "I went to get Jason stuff from the pharmacy. He got himself hurt saving some people, and I was worried the burn would fester."

"Burn? What burn?" I asked, snapping my head around to look at him.

"Uh," he said, refusing to meet my gaze.

Emily walked into his room, dropping her purse and jacket on his bed and looking for all the world that she lived there. She moved past me, pushing me back to stand next to him, and the very same scent that I had detected on Jason earlier, floated over to me. I found it difficult to breathe.

She coaxed him to sit down with a gentle hand on his chest.

I stared at her hand, and suddenly I could hear every _thump thump thump_ of my beating heart. I saw his hand, larger and more tanned cover hers at its place over his chest and that _thump_ became a deafening roar.

"Kim? Kimberly?" I heard her say, and my vision went hazy for a moment before I could find it in myself to look at her.

"What?" I bit out.

"Um," she began hesitatingly, "I was wondering if you could, maybe, give us a moment while I see to Jason."

My nostrils flared. "You want _me_ to give you a moment."

"Er, yes?"

A pounding started behind my left eye.

"I-I kinda need to take his shirt off, so perhaps you wanna turn around or, or...maybe we could go to the bathroom?" She glanced uncertainly at Jason.

I hated her. At that moment, I hated her with every breath in my body and every fibre of my being.

I turned to Jason as well, my eyes shooting sparks, and waited to see what he would say.

I wasn't sure what I had been expecting from him, but what he was was not it.

He simply looked _confused_. And if I hadn't been such an excellent student in the study of self-control, I'm quite certain I would have done them both serious bodily damage.

"Uh, Kim?" he ventured.

I shook my head. Then I shook it again hard. A sudden wave of embarrassment washed over me. A hot rush of tears followed soon after, and I averted my gaze, so that neither of them would see. I felt stupid, very much so, and I was glad that Emily had interrupted earlier as she had. I would have made a fool of myself otherwise.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, the fight having left me as quickly as it had come. I turned around to grab my stuff on the floor, stumbling out of his room, wanting nothing more than to leave.

Jason caught up with me at the corridor outside his room. "Kimberly, wait."

I stared straight ahead, unsure if I could look him in the eye.

"Kim," he said, and put a hand on my shoulder to turn me to him. "Hey."

I managed a shaky sort of smile.

"I'm sorry," he continued softly, and urgency to his tone. "I didn't want you to worry. I wasn't deliberately trying to hide it from you. There was a force field surrounding the arena. And it got me at a spot where my suit was already weakened from an earlier blow."

I nodded, my head swimming with images that he was trying to describe.

"How come _she_ knew?"

His hands came to rest on his hips and he looked at the floor uncomfortably. It took him a moment but eventually he answered. "Kimberly, she's my girlfriend."

I think I could have taken a thousand blows to the chest and it would have hurt less than his words now.

Struggling to breathe, I manage to whisper, "When?"

He looked like he was striving to understand why I was reacting this way. "I—," he said, then stopped, shaking his head, looking for all the world that he had somehow managed to kill his favorite pet, but he didn't know how. "I... Just two days ago. Before I went to Gasket's dimension for Tommy."

I nodded again, trying not to show how much my insides were tearing. "Why?"

He was at a loss for words. His eyes, normally guarded, were swimming with emotions too swift and complex for me to follow or understand. His hands fell from his hips and he raised open palms up in a helpless gesture.

"Emily is... She's- _Mine_ , you know." He stared off at some point to the side of my head, as if sorting through words and feelings and trying to get them to make sense in a sentence. "I chose her. She didn't... She didn't belong to anyone else first. Wasn't.. thrust on to me. If you even know what that means." He smiled wryly. "She's... the first thing that I _chose_ for myself that _wanted_ to be chosen by me... Wanted to belong to me... I guess." He closed his eyes briefly, and then opened them to search mine. "I don't know how else to explain it, Kim."

I inhaled jerkily, the corridor air musty and stale on my nose and tongue.

The worse thing was, I think I did. I think I understood him. "She wanted you too." I said numbly. "She wanted you _first_."

He nodded, then started to shake his head, then nodded again slowly. "Yeah... She wanted me. Just _me._ " I watched as a smile ghosted across his lips. "She asked me you know. Asked if it was okay if she were to call me her boyfriend." He glanced at me through thick lashes. "Maybe for her, it was something like what you and Tommy had."

My gaze sharpened on his, and a frown made its way across my face.

He shrugged, noticing, and tried to explain. "She told me she knew from the start. And I felt... I felt that I was... enough." He hung his head and for that moment, that very, very rare moment, I glimpsed a glimpse of his soul. The vulnerability he always kept hidden, the burden of the world he was always carrying on his shoulders, and this little chance of happiness that he wanted for himself. And I couldn't fault him. I couldn't begrudge him this little slice of something that had been given to him, and judge him for wanting to grasp it for himself.

"And you're also no longer in charge of the team."

He smiled, and I could see how glad he was that I understood. "Yes. I could never, as leader, afford to be distracted. You guys were my priority. My _life_. I'd have lived and died for all of you. There could never have been anyone else then." His eyes took on a faraway cast and his voice turned wistful, "No matter how very much I wanted it to."

I don't believe I could have loved Jason more than I loved him then.

His finger found its way under my chin and he lifted my face up to his. "I'm sorry, Kim," he said quietly and with so much sincerity, my heart ached.

His fingers unfolded and he cupped the side of my face, and my hand closed around the base of his palm. "Why're you sorry, Jase? For wanting to be happy?"

Uncertainty flit across his eyes, and I knew that he was struggling to understand himself.

I shook my head with a wan smile. "You deserve it. For everything you've done... sacrificed... I think you deserve this." My lower lip trembled and by reflex he brushed the pad of his thumb against it. I closed my eyes, and tears leaked out, for I so wanted the gesture to mean more than I knew it meant to him.

He looked troubled, and I hated that, but then he said, "Come here," in a soft murmur and I went to him without hesitation, and he tucked me in the safety of his arms. My head found that special place between his shoulder and chin, and I buried my face into his neck. I inhaled musk and spice and Jason, and I wondered if I could ever be so lucky as to call him mine.

My hand found its way to his chest, and he held on to my left wrist, his fingers closing around the spot where my communicator used to be.

It was empty now, a reminder of what was, and how things used to be.


	9. Chapter 9

**_Kimberly_**

I found myself wandering to The Grove very often the next several days.

Picking my way tentatively at first, then with more and more surety as I grew accustomed to the trail; learning where to tread, which turns to take, and which logs to climb over to reach that special spot in the light forest. Exercise was good, according to my physiotherapist, walking in particular, so walk I did.

I tried to avoid Jason, for he usually came with Emily glued to his side. They were in the first wave of high that being a couple usually started out with, and even though he always asked me to come hang out with the both of them, I just couldn't.

I couldn't watch that smile, that special one that I so wanted for myself, be given to her instead.

I couldn't watch his arm as it hung around her shoulders, or his hand as it rested on the curve of her waist, or on the small of her back.

I couldn't watch his fingers, broad and strong, as they played with a lock of her hair; as they wrapped around hers. Emily seemed to adore hanging on to him, and I couldn't very well blame her, but it was torture for me.

I toyed with the idea of going back, running back to Florida, and escaping it all. But the thought of leaving Jason alone with those powers that I did not trust; the thought of physically _leaving_ Jason, now when I've finally come to accept and embrace what I felt for him, was impossible. I realized I would rather see him with Emily together everyday than to return to Florida and not have to see him at all.

There was a slight nip in the air that afternoon, and I threw my backpack down at the base of the winged statue. As always, I took a moment to appreciate its beauty, to remember what once was, and say a quiet thank you that we, that I, had a chance to pilot those Zords; those very first Zords that will never be replaced in my heart.

Eventually I made my way to the clearing where I took a deep breath of the piney air and lifted my face up to the sun. It felt warm on my skin and arms and a subtle peace like no other filled me.

It had been a while, but something about the day and the place I was in motivated me to bend and drop into light stretches, my limbs finding positions and holds that I was familiar with, and after a while I was brave enough to vault into a series of cartwheels and even attempted a back flip.

I was breathless as I completed it, and my arms and legs were wobbly from the exertion and lack of practice, but it was exhilarating. I had missed this. The agility, the freedom and the adrenaline that came with knowing that my body would respond exactly as my mind commanded it to. Still on a high, I got into position and pushed off from the ground, trying for an aerial cartwheel, and aiming to finish with a dive roll that would take me halfway across the copse.

It was a mistake the moment I leapt from the ground, and I knew it. I had pushed my body too hard and too fast, and it protested in the worst possible way as I tumbled out from the very air.

I hit the ground hard, and had the breath knocked out of me. Pulling myself to a half-sit, I propped my upper body up with an arm, staring at the green, green grass on the ground below. My fingers curled into the grassy carpet, and I could feel the soft earth under my fingernails and also the wetness of tears as they made tracks from the corners of my eyes, and down my nose to splash on the ground.

I let them come, closing my eyes and tucking my head down to my chest. It was difficult, acknowledging that everything was out of my hands. That there was nothing I could do to reverse time and erase my injury, there was nothing I could do to compete professionally again, and that there was nothing I could do to make Jason love me back.

I knew this, but still, my chest burned and my eyes burned and my insides felt like they were rent in two.

I thought I'd loved before. But this was... this was something so much more than that. Than that that I had felt before with another man, both of them similar in so many ways, but so different in all the ways that counted.

This was Jason. And I didn't think I could take it, to be apart from him. This past week was proof of that. I was damned if I was near him and damned if I wasn't. But I knew that I would never, ever exchange or give up what I was feeling for him. I was young, but to be able to feel this way for someone, even I knew that that was a privilege.

Of loving some one so much that it hurt, that I would do anything just to make him happy, that I would be miserable a hundred times over just to see him smile. This, I knew would never come by with just anyone, and some people never experience that ever in their entire life.

Because he's Jason, I would take it, I would still choose this, over the complete bliss of never having known it at all.

Because he's Jason, and he deserves to have someone willing to go through the fires of hell itself for him too. Selflessly, unconditionally. _Just_ for him.

Eventually, the tears dried, and I pulled myself to sit with my arms around my knees, staring into nothing, feeling empty and more alone than I ever did in my life.

A light wind started up, lifting strands of my hair and I caught the scent of musk and spice.

"There you are," came his voice.

I bowed my head, shuddering a little, wondering how, just _how_ he was always there when I needed him most.

His hand came to rest on the back of my bare neck, large and warm and comforting and I shuddered another breath, burying my face into my arms and tightening my arms around my knees.

"Kimberly," he called softly, and I marvelled at the way that he alone could make my name sound.

I tried, but a whimper escaped and before I knew it, he had scooped me bodily up and into his lap. I clung on stubbornly to my knees, refusing to relinquish my very real desire to remain a ball.

It didn't bother him. He just tucked my head under his chin and folded his arms around me.

We remained that way for a good while, and between the steady rise and fall of his chest, and the calming thump of his heart beat, I was lulled into a light sleep. I woke up maybe a third of an hour later, and I held on to my position, deathly afraid that if I moved he would let me go.

He noticed of course, and I felt his lips move against my temple. "Talk to me," he whispered.

I shook my head. "I can't."

His arms tightened around me. I felt his forehead come to rest against the side of mine and his breath as it tickled the skin on my shoulder.

And then he began to speak.

"You were nine, and more fearless than anyone has the right to be. I don't know how or why, but you always did manage to be at your most reckless when I'm around. I also maintain that you were borderline crazy to try and do that flying leap thing—"

"—Vault. Tsukahara vault," I interjected with a slight smile.

"Right. What you said."

I could hear the answering smile in his voice, and he shifted me in his arms.

"You fell, of course, and skinned your knee, which was a miracle, seeing how you were trying to do it off a damn _tree_."

"I wouldn't have fallen if you hadn't distracted me."

"I thought you were going to break your _neck_ , Kim."

I looked up finally, to find our faces barely an inch a part.

"There you are," he said, an emotion I couldn't identify ghosting across his eyes. "I was beginning to miss that face of yours."

I leaned the side of my face on my forearms and gazed at him, my eyes tracing features that I loved so. "Go on," I told him softly.

He nodded, and rested his chin on my upper arm. "It was just a skinned knee, I still thank God for that everyday. But Jesus. Then you made me carry you home. And at nine, I could barely carry my own schoolbag much less you."

"Sure you could." Another breeze blew past, ruffling the waves of his dark hair. Silver glinted in the lobe of his ear. "You did, too."

He broke the circle his arms made around my body to brush back a lock of hair that had fallen across my face, tucking it gently behind an ear.

"I did, because you were crying so hard and screaming so loudly I thought you had sustained a fatal wound somewhere that I couldn't see." He grimaced. "I was moving on pure adrenaline alone."

I let out a little laugh. "A skinned knee felt like a fatal wound to me then."

He grinned in reply. Then reached out a finger to touch the tip of my nose. "I miss that laugh too," he said quietly.

I gave him a wavering smile, then lifted my head so that my chin was resting on my folded arms instead.

"I'm sorry, Jase."

I felt more than heard him sigh. "You've been avoiding me, haven't you?"

I concentrated on picking out only the yellow-petaled flowers in the field. I counted eighteen, nineteen and then twenty before he jostled me a little and I fell through the gap of his spread thighs to the ground.

"Hey!" I protested.

"Sorry," he said, shaking out his right leg exaggeratedly, "it fell asleep."

I peered at him suspiciously. "It did, huh."

"Yep." A pause, "Ouch."

"Hmph."

He smiled and pulled me back to rest against his chest. He took a moment, before he unerringly came to the root of the problem, or at least half of it anyway. "It'll be okay, Kim. Injuries... These take time."

"Who said I was pushing it?" I countered half-heartedly, no real heat behind my words.

"You've never been able to hide anything from me."

 _Oh the irony._ "Maybe one day I will," I told him lightly.

He frowned. "Why would you do that."

My shoulders lifted in a vague shrug, and I traced a finger absently along one of the many veins in the forearm he had resting on a knee in front of me. "To keep you happy," I murmured finally.

He looked like he was trying to unravel one of the universe's biggest mysteries. And I watched as his frown shifted, into a perplexed expression that he somehow managed to pull between boyish and confused and irritated that was on all counts infinitely precious.

I smiled and looked away, feeling him sigh behind me.

"I'll be here whenever you're ready to talk," he told me softly a few seconds later.

"I know," I said. I took in a deep breath and blew it out slowly, my head finding its place in the crook of his neck. "I know."


	10. Chapter 10

The afternoon spent with Jason, even though it was mostly in silence, boosted my spirits more than I could have thought possible. We walked the way back from the grove without words too, footsteps in sync, and somewhere along the way my hand found its way into his.

"How're your ribs?" I asked him at one point.

"Healed over, more or less," came the reply.

"Quicker than usual," I commented, shooting him a look.

"Yeah, upside to these powers."

I bit my lip, unfamiliar with the premise. There were dark rings under his eyes that hadn't been there before, and the creases that lined the corners of them seem to be getting deeper with time. It made me hesitant to ask what the downside to his powers was.

They appeared all of a sudden. One moment, Jason and I were alone, and the next, in a flash of unexpected light, Rita and Zedd appeared.

Fear gripped my spine, and I fought hard to hold on to my bravado. My fists came up, and I shifted my weight to the back of my heels, mimicking Jason's stance. He subtly shifted himself closer to me, and I lifted my chin, meeting Zedd's red visor-like stare head on.

"So we meet again Pink Princess," he growled slash rasped slash breathed. He turned that hideous red body around, apparently looking for something or someone. Not finding who he was looking for, he turned back to me with barely concealed glee. "Where's the white knight? No Tommy around to save you this time!"

My face twisted in incredulity and my eyes went into an automatic roll at the ridiculousness of his statement. "This is _Ja_ -son," I drawled it out with exaggerated patience.

"We know Red Ranger!" Rita screeched in reply.

" _Yes._ Then you'll also know that _he'll_ never let you get close enough to even _try_. See if you can put me in an icky urn now you, you" —cast around for insults— " _cone_ -head!"

Jason turned to me, faintly aghast. "Cone-head?"

I flushed, it wasn't one of my best. "Well, it's hard. You gotta admit, Rita's _actually_ kinda beautiful."

His eyebrows vanished into his hairline.

But at least Rita appeared to appreciate the sentiment. She brandished her wand at me in delight, "Hear that Zeddy!"

Her disgusting skinless freak of a husband had his visor trained on Jason, and didn't appear to have heard her, which was a wonder given the decibel at which she spoke.

"Kim?" Jason called over his shoulder in a low voice.

"Yeah?"

"You were right." There was a brief pause as he backed me up even further away from Zedd. "I'd never let them get close enough to try."

I frowned at him in confusion, only just noticing the arrival of Goldar _and_ a flock of Tengus. They descended upon the clearing in a flock of black and oily feathers like a swarm of locusts, a strident squawking raising the hair on my arms.

Jason's eyes swept across the enemy around him even as he lifted his wrist. "Billy, come in. I've got Kimberly with me. Get her out, now."

I stared at him mouth agape, just realizing his intention. "Don't you dare. Jason! _Jason_!"

The rushing filled my ears, and the last thing I saw before the energy transported me to safety was a brief flash of the Power Staff before an awesome power encased him in the light of gold.

* * *

Unused to being teleported so rudely away I landed ungracefully on my knees in the Power Chamber. I shook my hair out of my eyes, looking around wildly before spotting a figure by the consoles who turned to face me as I got up.

"Oh, hello Kim," said my long time friend nervously.

I trained a ferocious scowl on him in return, and he at least had the grace to look guilty.

"Why?!" I yelled, uncaring that he had been operating on Jason's instructions. I pushed past him in great agitation to stand by the viewing globe that was now fixed to a hole in the wall. "Send me back!" I demanded, "He's all alone down there!"

"I'm afraid that would not be prudent, given your lack of powers," he stopped to stand by me in front of the globe, continuing, "and the strength and numbers the enemy presents."

"Not prudent?" I hissed, whirling around and glaring at him, " _not prudent?_ "

"Kim, Jason is perfectly capable of managing circumstan—"

"William Cranston, you send the rest of the Rangers down there to him now or I swear to God I'm gonna gut you."

He gulped. But I knew him well, and from the resolute set to his expression, I also knew that he wouldn't be sending in backup anytime soon.

He touched my arm. "Just turn around and look. Please."

I swung forcefully back to the globe as Billy fiddled with something at the consoles, zooming out so that I could take in the entire battle. True enough, Jason was handling it fine on his own.

"The Gold Powers have chosen well," Billy said matter-of-factly, "and Jason is already a formidable force even without them."

My foot started a wild dance on the floor. I won't relax until it was over, and I had Jason back safe with me.

Billy's hand settled on my shoulder, and together we watched as Jason eviscerated the Tengus one by one.

There was a dark beauty in fighting, and Jason, more than anyone else, had always been able to bring that to light. I watched as he weaved through the enemy, shifting skilfully between stances, a blend of attacks and deflects; a study in poetry in the art he loved so well. _So beautiful._

I felt Billy move next to me and I flushed, realizing that I had spoken aloud.

"What?" I countered defensively.

He shook his head as he considered me. "Nothing," he said, with a small shrug to his shoulders even as a slight frown remained on his face.

I turned back to the globe, determined to ignore him, and tracked Jason with my eyes. I saw Goldar finally lose patience with the Tengus and draw his mighty sword, decapitating the two nearest to him in frustrated fury. He stepped forward menacingly and grabbed one by the scuff of its neck, throwing it aside with a terrifying bellow.

The rest of the warriors melted backwards in fear, leaving him to meet Jason alone.

"Cowards! Fools, all!" he turned his monstrous head around in a circle and snarled at them. He brandished his sword at Jason, who had his arms up and legs braced, silently observing him. "There are thirty of you and only one of him!" he roared at his minions, and I could feel the gush of vitriol spew from him even from the safety of where I was.

Goldar turned to face Jason, nearly twice his height, and bared his teeth in a hideous growl. Jason shifted his weight in response, and dug his feet into the grass. I barely caught the brief nod that Zedd gave, but that was all Goldar needed. And with a sudden lunge and a swing of his heavy sword, they began their terrifying dance of death.

Observing a battle going on was vastly different from being in it, when adrenaline fuels your veins and instinct takes over. Goldar was freakishly fast for his size and cumbersome armor, and there was a reason why he alone was Rita's, and then, Zedd's, favorite general. The blows that Jason deflected seemed magnified to my eyes and ears and the sound of armor clashing sent tremors running through me that I tried to quash.

Goldar hated Jason with an intensity that was beyond the realm of normal reason, and he did not skimp on the force of his attacks and the heaviness of his blows. His massive arm swung up and rained down in a staccato reminiscent of a jackhammer that sent Jason nearly to his knees. But Jason had been doing this for a long time, and unlike Goldar, he never lost his cool, and knew better than to be blinded by emotion. He saw an opening and seized it, a movement so swift that Goldar barely had time to react, and reached through with a clean grab and a savage twist that sent Goldar's sword flying a distance away. There was a sickening crack as Jason brought a knee up, and Goldar's wrist hung at an awkward angle.

Goldar let out a bone-chilling howl that resonated off the trees in the clearing. Spittle hung from his fanged jaws as he cradled his broken wrist to his chest, his eyes red with paralyzing hatred as he lunged rabidly at Jason in manic fury. The heavy, clawed paw of his left arm came at Jason in a series of vicious swipes that had Jason leaping backwards in a rhythmic pattern to avoid.

And then I saw it. Almost too fast for the eye to see, but I saw it. A shimmer in his suit, a brief, _brief_ flash of Jason's civilian form before he was armored up again in black and gold. I whirled around and grabbed Billy's arm, my nails sinking deep, bile in my mouth. "Did you see that?"

My eyes flew back to Jason in the globe, but my grip on Billy didn't diminish. "Billy," I repeated, close to losing it.

He frowned at me, looking confused. "No, I didn't, Kim. What're you talking about?"

" _It_ ," I insisted. "That.. that _shimmer_ , I could've sworn…" I trailed off with my heart in my mouth as I saw Goldar take another massive swing at Jason which he somehow managed to deftly block, and counter with a powerful kick to the torso that sent Goldar flying three feet backwards. Enraged, Goldar roared, picking himself up as Zedd finally stepped forward, an eerie red glow to the tip of his staff.

I froze as another thought struck me, and my insides started to swirl with a sick kind of fear. "Billy… why are Rita and Zedd after Jason too?"

He ignored me, a deeper frown on his face as he glued his attention to the globe. His eyes flew fast between Zedd and the remaining warriors, then to the savage threat that was Goldar. I knew the moment realization dawned, and saw him vault forward in a rush to fiddle with the gazillion buttons and knobs on the console as Rito suddenly appeared with a whole flock of fresh Tengus on his tail.

Ice gripped my spine and I whirled around in horror. "Send me back. Send me back, now!" I screamed senselessly at Billy, even as Jason summoned the Power Staff and called upon a Gold Rush.

But Billy did me one better. He teleported Jason out mid-strike; one moment a blur of gold energy hurtling through the Tengus with a direct path set towards Rito, and the next safe and sound in the Power Chamber.

I flew towards Jason as he rose from a crouch, the staff still glowing with unused power in his gloved fist. This was the first time I've been close to Jason in his morphed form. And it was the oddest thing, but there was a charge, a restlessness, a disturbance to the air around him that was palpable. I could feel it radiate off him.

I glanced over at Billy to see if he had the same kind reaction I did, but he showed no signs of noticing anything untoward.

Then Jason removed his helmet and stowed the staff and it was gone.

"What is it, Billy?" he asked tightly, tension in the line of his shoulders.

Billy looked disturbed, and had one of those expressions on his face when he had worked something unpleasant out in his mind and was hesitant to tell it to us.

I shifted my focus to Jason, my fear from before not yet completely gone, and my hands came up automatically, running over his arms in a most inane bid to feel for injuries.

He took his eyes off Billy for a moment, and his gaze softened to murmur a quick, "I'm fine, Kim."

I nodded, and his eyes flew back to Billy once again, the look he spared me earlier gone, replaced by a steely glint that we all knew not to cross.

Billy shifted uncertainly from one foot to the other, and I knew that neither Jason nor I were going to like the news I'm sure he had for us.

"I'm sorry, Jase, but I have reason to believe that it was a set-up, one with the intention to divest you of your powers."

My mouth fell open. I knew it. I _knew_ it.

Jason frowned, and Billy stepped forward to elaborate.

"The Gold Powers were entrusted to you for safekeeping. If they fall into the wrong hands..."

Jason nodded grimly, "I knew that, Billy. But why'd you pull me out of battle?"

Billy wasted no time mincing words. "Jase, I suspect that Rita and Zedd are deliberately trying to weaken you for the sole intention of claiming your powers for their own."

I took a moment to absorb this. "A-and Mondo?" I asked, voice coming out high.

Billy glanced at me. "Mondo and Gasket too, and it's twofold for them, for Jason is also their biggest threat." He scrunched up his face, struggling to explain things to us so we could understand. "I'm theorizing, but if Jason weakens — loses the strength to control the powers, they will then have no host. And therefore, be available for the next body able to take on the power."

Jason stood silent, thinking. And then he looked up and met Billy's eyes. "It doesn't change anything. I vowed to guard them with my life, and I will, until Trey is strong enough for me to return it safely to him again."

Billy nodded, expecting nothing less, and they shared a long look that I could not make sense of. Then Billy nodded again, slowly this time and Jason dismissed the topic with a glance around the room.

"Zordon not back yet?" he asked.

I followed his gaze and for the first time, noticed that neither Zordon nor Alpha was present.

Billy shook his head in reply, and noticed my apparent confusion. "He and Alpha went to Triforia, to lend their aid to the unification process of their Lord," he informed me.

"Oh."

Jason's warm hand came to rest on my shoulder. "It's nothing, Kim," he said.

I placed my hand over his, automatically bringing it down to hold loosely between my own.

He said it was nothing. But I wasn't so sure. I knew what I saw, and I saw it.

That shimmer in his suit...

That tell-tale moment when his powers had failed.


	11. Chapter 11

**Tommy**

He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, wondering just how far the effects of Gasket's brain drain was going to affect him.

He had taken a shortcut through the park. Along the edge of an unfamiliar wood, that few, if any of them ever frequented. Maybe Jason did, he mused, for he knew that Jason enjoyed his solitude and was, out of all of them most comfortable with silence and nature.

He removed his hands, blinking hard, and could have sworn that he had seen a flash of caramel-colored hair as it disappeared behind a tree along the edge of the wood. But the line of trees remained undisturbed, and the place was as empty as it ever was.

He shook his head, sending long hair rustling across his shoulders, and shifted his books and the backpack he had over his shoulder over to the other one, then put his head down and soldiered along his way.

He found his friends where they usually were, clustered around a picnic table in the more populated area on the other side of the park, half-heartedly cheering on Adam and Rocky who were tossing a football between them some ways off. He dropped into the empty spot next to Jason and shoved both hands into his hair.

"You okay, man?" his friend asked, mildly concerned.

He didn't answer. Didn't know where to start.

A quick glance up at Katherine saw her and Tanya busy with Adam and Rocky, and he turned to Jason in an undertone, "I think I'm going nuts, man. That or starting to see things."

Jason frowned, shifting his body slightly towards him. "What do you mean?"

He took a instinctual glance up at Kat again, then his knees started bouncing and his fingers began a tap dance on the table before him. "It's like, I can't explain it, but I'm seeing _her._ Or I _think_ I do, but it's weird like I'm not sure if it's because I may be feeling something a little more for" —he shot another glance at Kat and almost hissed her name out in a whisper— " _Kat_. Or, or, if it's because of the thing Gasket did with my brain, or if I'm going crazy."

Jason's frown deepened and he unconsciously lowered his voice to match Tommy's. "Who's ' _her'_?"

Tommy shot him an annoyed look. " _Her._ Y'know, _Kim._ "

A closed look came over Jason's face. Tommy took the opportunity to flip his hair and rub the top of his lip agitatedly. His folded his hands before him but his knees continued their rhythmic bouncing as he stared off blankly into space.

"Tommy, look—" But Jason didn't get far before he was interrupted.

"It's probably nothing, man. It's just," Tommy sighed, "the thing with Kim and me is that we were never really...," his forehead wrinkled as he searched for the right word, "well... _friends,_ first, y'know." He looked at Jason, "I don't think I ever really got her on the level that you did."

"Tom—"

"No, it's true." He shook his head and looked at his folded fingers. "The distance… When she moved to Florida… things just weren't the same anymore. It's like… When we stopped seeing each other everyday, then the things we could, y'know, _talk_ about, it just… disappeared."

Jason was silent.

"Did she," Tommy stopped, hesitating. He glanced at his friend, then decided to push ahead with it. "Did she… ever mention this other guy to you?"

There was a brief pause, a slight tension in the set of his jaw as Jason contemplated how to answer. "No, bro, she didn't," he answered truthfully.

Tommy let out an audible breath. "S-she mentioned that he was like me in a lot of ways. I often wonder…" and then he trailed off, shaking his head.

Jason contemplated him. "Do you still love her?" he asked, carefully neutral.

Tommy struggled with a gamut of emotions that he couldn't quite hide. "I don't know, man," he said eventually, huffing out a short laugh. "I don't think I know how to _not_ be in love with her… I mean, I think we practically started at 'romantic'." He sent two fingers up in the air as emphasis. "But it's just… It's the idea of her and someone else… I can't…"

He pulled a hand roughly down his face and opened his eyes to find Jason looking at him, an inscrutable expression on his face. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but Tommy stopped him with a wave of his hand.

"Save it. Really. It's stupid, I know." He offered Jason a wry smile. "I just… Maybe if I knew how to love her the way you do—"

Jason's eyes sharpened on him. "The way I do?"

Tommy nodded vaguely. " Yeah… You know, we've never been friends. I don't know how to love her that way. But maybe if I did," he gave a half-hearted shrug, "Maybe if we had something more… Maybe she'd still be with me now, y'know."

Jason looked conflicted and Tommy reached out to give his shoulder a hard squeeze. "I'm just saying, bro."

Jason shook his head, a deep crease between his brow that didn't go away even as he focused his attention on the football being tossed around by Adam and Rocky. His question, when it finally came out, was asked as if almost on a whim, "You think... You think that someone can come to love you even after you've been friends for so long? Is that... even possible?"

Tommy didn't answer immediately, and looked stumped. He shrugged. "Maybe? I dunno. But it sure beats not being friends at all." He unclenched his fingers to begin playing with the edges of his books before him. "At least... at least it gives you something to go on y'know," he stopped, wrinkling his brow and trying to find an elusive answer. He stole a glance at Kat, then sighed and resumed fiddling with the pages of his schoolbooks. "Something like, _more,_ to build all that love stuff on."

"Connection?" Jason supplied mildly.

"Yeah, that," he agreed absently. Then nodding decisively, he turned to Jason with an encouraging smile. "Like you and Emily."

Jason blinked, and took several seconds too long before nodding in return. "Yeah," he repeated slowly, "Like… me and Emily."


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N** : I love Billy so I've kicked that shitty storyline aging him a hundred years and sending him to Aquitar to kingdom come. _

_And then some._

* * *

 _Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale._

"Nearly there, Jase," I whispered between steps, heaving with exertion. Sweat trickled down my brow and I exchanged a desperate glance with Billy.

Billy's face was red with effort, but he nodded in encouragement, and together we dragged Jason foot by painful foot across the metal floors of the cavernous room that was the Zeo Zord holding bay. Tall, shiny steel doors gleamed dully thirty feet away, but it could've been a hundred, and it felt like two hundred.

Jason grunted and I chanced a look behind us to see if we were being pursued. But Jason had done his job, and he had done it well. The only evidence of the vicious battle that had taken place there before was the scorched marks on the walls, the flickering of electrical wires as they lay severed and hanging dangerously from the overhead ducts, plumes of smoke from the weapon fire that had been exchanged earlier, and a wet and sticky trail of blood as it seeped out from Jason's side and followed us on our path across the bay.

A loud crash sounded behind us, and I jumped, anticipating the worst, but there was no one behind us, and no one around but just the three of us.

"Nothing, Kim," Billy said, "one of the Zords probably. Gasket and the Cogs did a number on them." He looked pained as he kicked aside a large plate, and as bent and blackened as it was, I could still make out the underlying green in it, and deduced that it once belonged to Adam's Zord Four.

Jason coughed and blood spurted out of his side, and I nearly slipped in the small pool it made on the floors. "Sorry," he mumbled weakly.

"Shut up," I growled, refusing to give in to sobs that were threatening to claw their way out of me.

There was a ghost of a smile across the pallor of his lips, and Billy shifted one of his arms, trying to take more of his weight across his shoulders and off me.

We reached the doors and my heart sank as I looked at the panel that housed the mechanism that controlled the doors to the bay. It was utterly destroyed, the screen was smashed and the wires had been ripped out and were dangling uselessly along with the keypad.

Billy and I exchanged another loaded glance, and together we leaned Jason gently down against the wall. I knelt down by his side as Billy stared wordlessly at the ruined panel.

I jerked, looking up hopefully, "Jason can teleport us—"

"Impossible," he interrupted, eyes bleak. "It will kill him."

"Can you fix it then?" I asked him lowly, my eyes and hands working fast to assess the bleeding that was coming out from Jason's right. Billy didn't answer, and I fought to shelf panic and tried to be thankful instead that Billy had for some reason since our reunion, taken to teleporting me to the Power Chamber to view the Rangers' battles together with him.

I threw another glance behind my shoulder, paranoid to the extreme, scouring the area as best as I could in the dim light, before I directed my attention to Jason's side.

Archerina had got him good. And an arrow the length of my forearm was buried in his torso. His suit had formed up around it, and I couldn't see anything through the blackness of the material except that with every passing second, the pool of blood that was forming below Jason on the floor was getting bigger and bigger. It was a miracle he was still conscious.

Like Billy had feared, his theory had proven true, and the Machine Empire had been watching Jason closely; close enough to know that the Gold Powers were proving erratic, and that there were moments where they failed.

It happened at one such moment, and Archerina had been waiting for it. She stepped out of the shadows and let an arrow fly with deadly accuracy, where it ripped through his flesh and his bone and buried itself grotesquely in his body. The whole thing had been a set-up, and Gasket had planned it well; a two-pronged attack that aimed to destroy the Zords while the Rangers were out battling a monster, and one to lure the Gold Ranger alone into an ambush.

I had watched in horror, unable to do anything from where I had been in the main room of the Power Chamber, as the force of it took him stumbling two feet back before the Gold powers took back over and formed around it; firmly anchoring alien metal and steel fletching into his side.

I stripped off my top with trembling fingers and stiffened my spine. "This will hurt, Jase," I warned him softly, and then I pressed the material around the arrow and into his side. He hissed out a hollow groan, and my heart wrenched and a thousand scenarios where I had Archerina strung and hanging from her thumbs flashed through my mind.

Blood seeped through the soft cotton of my top and my fingers came away bloody. I looked up as Billy grabbed ahold of one of the sparking wires and yelped as a jolt of electricity ran up his arm. He let loose a soft curse and shifted his gaze to Jason, noting the dark puddle underneath him.

Billy and I could always on some level read each other's minds, either the product of having faced death together so many times, or from having our brains switched at one point, or from the many years of friendship that we had forged, but I read the grim set of his mouth and the unspoken fear in his eyes as he took in Jason on the ground.

His voice was deliberately low to hide his worry when his eyes met mine. "Kim... You need to stop the bleeding." He swallowed as he saw blood start to drip slowly from the tip of my fingers at Jason's side. "His powers and the morphing grid can only do so much. If he loses too much blood… _Maybe_ a hospital might be able to... But with an injury like that," he swallowed again and shook his head, "it will raise too many questions."

I inhaled shakily, and nodded. Our suits powered us as well as protected us. They always have. But again, none of us have gotten injured before, not like this, when we weren't morphed. And again, none of us have ever had control of the power that Jason was wielding now, not the kind that existed even without morphing, the kind that flows through our veins, the kind that sucks the life out of our bodies.

Billy turned back to the doors, apparently weighing the efficacy of fixing the broken mechanism or prying the doors open. He shucked one idea for the other, and grabbed a long metal bar three feet away that looked like it had once belonged to the overhead structuring, fitting it between the slit-like gap of the closed doors.

The sound of metal against metal grated on me, and I shut it out, turning my attention to the love of my life. "Jason," I called softly, using the back of my hand to wipe sweat from his clammy brow, and wincing as it left a streak of his blood on his forehead. "Jase, I need you to help me. I need you to power down, so I can pack that wound before you lose any more blood."

He opened his eyes with difficulty, and nodded. I sat back on my heels and watched him struggle to call back the power. He tried once, and then again, before he was able to rein it in and immediately collapsed back against the wall.

I let out a sharp cry and lurched forward, to do what, I knew not. But blood gushed from his wound the moment he de-morphed and my eyes went wide with terror.

For it was even more horrific than I had envisioned. Archerina's arrow stuck out unnaturally from his mangled side; a monstrous mass of cold, hard metal that looked surreal sticking out of the living flesh and blood of his body. The arrow itself was the stuff made from nightmares, thicker than my thumb with a series of spikes that curved out from the first third of the serrated shaft _._ The spikes hooked on to the edges of the _hole_ they made in Jason's body, a mess of cloth and mutilated flesh and blood and I nearly fainted at the sight of it all.

"My God," came Billy's muffled intake of breath behind me.

Jason's face lost whatever color it had and I struggled through the tears that were coursing down my face and the hands I had trembling at his side to do something, anything, to stop his life from bleeding right out of him.

My fingers, coated in slick red, slipped as I abandoned the cloth and tried to use my hands to staunch the bleeding instead, frantically yelling for Billy to throw me his shirt and begging Jason at the same time to stay with me, to _stay with me_ as he slumped forward and lost consciousness.

"Billy!" I screamed, but he was already by my side, actions echoing my thoughts as he tried to get Jason to wake up and morph again.

"Jason! C'mon, buddy, you need to morph! The power is the only thing that's stopping you from bleeding out, Jason!"

By some miracle he managed to claw his way back to consciousness, although his eyes were unfocused and hazy with unmentionable pain and blood loss.

I held his face between my bloody hands, praying and stumbling over my words as I tried to get him to understand that he needed to, he _needed_ to morph. "Please, baby. Please, Jase."

He blinked heavily, and his eyes swam to the back of his head and I pleaded with him to find it in him and the strength to do the impossible. "Jason. Please."

His chin fell to his chest and my tears mingled with his blood and suddenly I felt it. A brief flash of the Golden Staff as it appeared in Jason's hand. That crackling in the air, that rustle of energy and a flicker of gold flecks as it hovered in an aura around him before it sputtered and died.

I wanted to die with it.

I saw him struggle once more to summon the power. Veins strained in his forearms and lined his neck as a fine trembling took over his body.

And then it started again. A flicker of the Staff as it appeared in Jason's hand, that disturbance in the air; and instinct, and maybe a larger part, fear, that it would disappear before Jason could harness its power, made me reach out and grab the Staff as it made its appearance in Jason's grip.

I was stunned at the sheer magnitude of the power that flooded me. It flowed through my veins, set my nerves tingling, sent my heart rate up and all I could see was light, pure golden light, and so much energy that it rushed to my head and set my skin afire.

It happened so quickly that I could barely even fathom what happened. For one moment there was light, and the next, it swept through my body and out of my body like a wave, a black vortex of dark swirling unnameable force, taking with it what I felt was all that I had, all that was me, all that made me, me. I couldn't breathe, I choked on what I could have sworn was air, but was thicker than air, and what I could only describe as _energy_ , and on some level I understood that it was feeding off of me, feeding off of my strength, my life and taking along with it to some unknown place, a place it was desperate to merge with, a body it was desperate to heal.

And then I understood.

I saw through a vision of haze as it swarmed around Jason, but with him, and only with him, it appeared as pure golden light. It encased his slumped form and as I fell forward dry heaving and shivering and weak and nauseous I registered that Jason was conscious and armored back up.

"Kimberly," he muttered weakly, reaching out with a gloved hand and my eyes zeroed in on his side. The arrow was still anchored there, one could only hope for so much I suppose, but the bleeding had stopped entirely. He moved towards me and stifled a cry of pain, and I saw the arrow turn sickeningly in his body.

"Stop, don't move," I slurred, gesturing with great difficulty to his side.

My tongue was thick, my head was a dead weight, and I was having a hard time focusing.

I felt Billy's hand on my back, even understood the words he was saying to me, though it seemed like they were coming from a far away place. "Kim, it's okay, breathe, just breathe."

I turned around and lay on my back and was content to do just so.

I must have blacked out at some point because the next thing I knew I was blinking up at the fluorescent lights of the medical bay.

"Jason," I croaked, lips dry and throat parched. I tried to swallow and a hand went under my neck as a straw materialized out of nowhere and I sucked in sweet, sweet water gratefully. Slowly, my eyes connected with the other hand that was holding the glass and travelled up a forearm to meet the warm brown eyes of my ex-boyfriend.

 _Uh-oh._

I nearly choked.

"Hi there, Beautiful."

I flashed back to all the times where he and I would find ourselves in this exact position. I tried to think of something to say.

"Jason," I said.

It was as if saying his name summoned the man himself.

"Kimberly," he called softly, from where he had been sitting on the other side of me. My heart leapt and my eyes found his and feeling threatened to overwhelm me.

"Jason," I said again.

He smiled.

"Arrow," I mumbled.

"Gone."

"You 'kay?"

"Yes."

I closed my eyes, exhausted, and dropped back to sleep, holding the image of eyes the color of the night sky close to me; oblivious to the weight of Tommy's hand, still supporting my head beneath me.


	13. Chapter 13

**Tommy**

"What was she doing there, man?" he asked his best friend in consternation. He shoved a jerky hand through shoulder-length locks, "Hell, what is she even doing back _here_?"

They were gathered in the main room of the Power Chamber, Jason sitting on the observation table to the right of the room, a place where he seemed to be spending a lot of his time lately, as Billy ran tests and scans holding weird looking instruments around and over his body and side.

The team watched warily as Tommy paced agitatedly back and forth, one line down the row of suits that was suspended on display at the back of the room, then whirling back up again to stop by Adam near the consoles. He fixed his gaze on Jason, then cast them towards Billy. "Why didn't she tell _me_?"

Billy had his back to Tommy and concentrated really hard on waving the scanner around Jason's head. He looked at his friend and found that Jason looked troubled.

Tommy appeared suddenly behind Jason on the other side of the observation table. He planted his hands knuckles down on the flat surface and stared at Billy. "And how did she even get hurt like that?!"

In true Billy fashion, he gently put down his scanner and regarded Tommy calmly. "I have consulted with Zordon and Trey when I could open a communication line to Triforia about this earlier. We surmise that the Gold Powers were weakening, and Jason's injury was too severe for them to heal."

Tommy frowned and Billy took that as an opportunity to elaborate.

"Simply put, they needed a fresh source of energy, and Kim provided that when she attempted to wield the Power Staff."

There was a collective stir among the other rangers as they looked at each other in disbelief.

Tommy's jaw dropped, and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "What?!"

"She did," Billy nodded. "Saved your life too, Jase," he told Jason in a quiet undertone.

He looked at Tommy, and then turned to regard the rest of the rangers. "The gold powers feed off the strength of the host. They're powerful, but we already knew this, and a constant balance needs to be struck between the two."

His hand went up by habit, to push up absent glasses that had long been swapped for contacts. Finding none, he let it drop awkwardly to his side, and cleared his throat. "It's a... symbiotic relationship, almost. Jason feeds it and it feeds off Jason to fuel its own power and to fuel him.

"But Jason is mortal, human, and one man. Trey, Lord of Triforia in all the three ways that matter, _isn't_. Courage, heart and wisdom form the three edges of the triangle, and wields the power within to encompass it all. It's also my theory that it wasn't by chance that Pyramidas is the battle zord of the Gold Ranger." He stopped to take a breath before continuing, "Three points, three persons, three symbols of virtue. The spirit, the heart and the mind."

He gestured with fingers, and emphasized, "Courage, heart and wisdom." Billy glanced once at Jason, a small smile on his face. "I'm guessing Jason alone could hold the power because he defines all three in the body of _one_ man."

Jason started to interrupt, an uncomfortable expression on his face, but Billy waved him off. "It's true, Jase," he said matter-of-factly. He turned back to the team, "But, this balance, it is difficult to achieve, and that's when we saw the powers weakening. Again Jason is _human_ , and these powers are incompatible with the human anatomy." He sighed, "We'll know more when Zordon and Alpha return from Triforia, but for now..."

Tommy pushed off from the table and folded his arms, looking down at the floor and at Jason, worry for his best friend warring with worry for his ex-girlfriend. He looked up when Billy continued quietly.

"Kimberly got hurt because she did something, God even I don't know what she did, but the Staff knows an energy source when it presents itself, and Kim was it." He turned to Tommy, "So to answer your question," he paused to glance meaningfully at Jason, "and yours, I speculate that Kim allowed your powers to take from her what it needed to give to you."

A long silence ensued among the lot of them as they took in his words.

Then Rocky broke it with a loud exhale and a short laugh. "Well," he said, rubbing his neck, "we always knew she was a bit of a nutcase. That's probably why Zordon gave her command of the Pterodactyl. _Ptero_ -dactyl. Geddit? Terror? Ha ha ha-um-hmm." He swallowed the last bit of his laughter as he caught Tommy's furious glare. "A-hem. Right then."

* * *

 **Kimberly**

The next time I opened my eyes was to find his dark ones gazing down at me. He startled a little when he saw me blinking back up at him, and his arm jerked as he moved awkwardly for the cup of water by the bedside.

"How're you feeling?" he asked after I had taken a sip.

"I'm okay," I croaked, cleared my throat, then tried again. "I'm okay." I stopped, testing the truth of my words, then amended, "Uh, okay.. _.ish_ , anyway."

He considered me for several seconds. A stark flash of emotion crossed his eyes before they sharpened on me and he asked, "What were you _thinking_ , Kim? You _knew_ they had almost killed Billy."

Hell if I knew. I hadn't been thinking. I had been feeling.

I sighed, closing my eyes. "I guess I wasn't, Jase." I tried lifting up a hand in emphasis, but I could barely raise it a couple of inches above the bed. I found his eyes and a sort of desperate worry seeped into my voice. "Jason, these powers will _kill_ you."

He stiffened, almost imperceptibly, and I started to consider the idea that he knew this.

"My God," my voice shook a little as I saw the resolute look on his face, "you cannot possibly mean to continue with this."

He didn't answer.

I exhaled shakily and looked away, focusing on the sterile-looking pristine white wall on the other end of the medical bay. When I had regained enough calm, I turned back to him and asked, "Why weren't you with the others then? Earlier? Why are you always going off alone, and dealing with the crap work?"

He stopped to tuck the covers in around my body, then pulled his eyes up to meet mine. "I'm their sixth, Kim."

My reply flew forth, almost without thinking. "Tommy was our sixth. He never did any of that."

He sighed. "Tommy's powers weren't strong, he needed to conserve them."

"Jase, your powers are _alien,_ you are not."

"I made a vow, Kim."

I should stop, I knew I should. But for the life of me I couldn't. It could be because of the terrifying experience I just had with the Gold Powers, it could be that I was weak and clearly not in the right frame of mind to think logically — to think like a Ranger. But I hated these powers. I hated the circumstances that had led to Jason having them. I hated the fact that I was acting the way that I was. I hated the fact that he was at risk and I was helpless to do anything.

A half-sob broke free. "They want your powers!"

"Yeah, but as long as they're bound to me they're safe."

"Safe? Right," a hollow, disbelieving laugh escaped me. "Until they kill you for it."

"Kimberly." His hand came up and he lay the backs of his fingers against my cheek. "They've been trying to kill the Rangers for centuries. This is nothing new." A faint smile crossed his lips.

I stared at him, eyes bright and a tremor started in my lower lip. I bit down hard on it.

His fingers feathered out from my cheek and his thumb came to rest gently against my lip. I heard him inhale as he lightly traced the shape of it with the pad of his thumb, and his eyes took on an intense emotion that I've never seen before when he finally dragged his gaze up from my lips to my eyes.

A loud knock sounded on the door and Billy popped his head in, a slightly frazzled look on his face. "Jase, the guys need you again. Tommy's calling for Pyramidas." There was the shortest of pauses as he took in the both of us, then he said, almost apologetically, "Now."

Jason dropped his hand and drew back so quickly I was left feeling a little dazed. He stood up and leaned down to press a chaste kiss to my forehead as Billy stepped into the room, leaving the door ajar for Jason.

I grabbed Jason's hand as he turned to leave, wanting to say more, but unable to do so. "Be careful," I told him instead, and he squeezed my hand stiffly, meeting my eyes briefly before he turned and strode past Billy briskly out of the room.

I stared after his departing back, confused and disturbed in more ways than one. I glanced at Billy as he too stared after Jason, a slight frown on his face.

I was no stranger to seeing guilt make its home in Jason. It often did, when he felt that he had come up short as a leader, or let someone down — I had seen it eat away at him for years when Tommy lost his powers. Jason would never know that I ended things with Tommy because what I felt for Tommy could never even begin to hold a candle to what I felt for him. I had vowed that he would never have to go through a trial like that, ever, at my hands.

So that look in his eyes, just before he left the room, it bothered me. Because I had seen it before; many times more than I liked, but never because of me, and never with me. I knew that look.

Guilt.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Kimberly**_

Eventually they let me go back home, but not before Zordon returned with Alpha and confirmed everything Billy had concluded about the Gold Powers. I hadn't been there together in the main chamber with the Rangers when Zordon returned with his grim news, and I suppose it wasn't appropriate for me to be involved in such matters anymore.

A rain of pebbles sounded against the glass of my closed window and I looked up and frowned. Making my way cautiously over, I opened it just as another shower came and one narrowly missed my left eye. I reeled back in shock. "JESUS Ch—"

"Kim! Hey!" A wide-eyed toothy grin flashed in the semi-darkness.

I squinted, then blinked. Then squinted and blinked. "Tommy?"

"Yeah, hey!" I watched as he turned his head to the left, then to the right, then looked up at me before turning one slow circle around. "Uh, so, how do I get in?"

"Um. You can try the front door?"

"No! No, I got this, I'm gonna climb up, you stay there you need to rest."

"Right. Oo-kay."

I heard lots of scuffling by the side of the house and I frowned, peering into the dark. Then came a slithering and sliding sound as he grappled with the water pipes and tried to find footholds that he didn't know where to find, followed by a series of loud grunts.

I stuck my head further out the window and called down to where I thought he might be. "You know, Tommy you can just use the front door like you've always—"

His head popped up like a whack-a-mole to the right of my elbow and I stifled a scream and the urge to whack it.

"No! I got it, see? Okay step aside so I can climb in."

I stepped aside so he could climb in.

He stepped in and dusted his hands on his pants. "Made it, phew. Wonder why I've never tried that before. Would be kinda romantic wouldn't it?" He raised an eyebrow and attempted to waggle it at me. "Kinda like what you said you always wanted about princes and princesses, right?"

Oh right. It seemed like a lifetime ago and I couldn't believe that I had ever thought that.

"Uh. Yeah..." I said instead, lifting a hand for some reason, then dropped it when I realized I had no action for it to complete. "So..."

"Yeah, uh," he said and turned his head slightly as _his_ hand rose to scratch it. "So." He took a step towards me then changed his mind and looked around my room before he gestured awkwardly to the bed. "Uh, can I sit?"

I lifted my shoulders. "Sure."

He sat.

I looked at him expectantly.

He caught me looking. "So. How're you?" he asked.

"I'm okay." There was a pause as I cast around for something to say. "Um. How're _you_?"

"I'm good. Good."

"That's good."

"Yeah."

His knee started that habitual bouncing and his fingers started fidgeting with a rip in his jeans and I found myself staring at his shirt. It criss-crossed in columns and rows in varying shades of red and I decided on the spot that his shirt offended on some level.

I dragged my eyes back to his face and startled a little at the look in his eyes. "So... Why're you here?" I asked, to cover up my discomfort.

"Do I need a reason to be?" he countered.

I shrugged a little and folded my arms around my middle. "Um, I guess not."

I thought he was going to beat around the bush a little, but he surprised me by cutting right to the chase.

"What happened back there? At the holding bay?"

"You know what happened. It was a set-up, and Jason nearly got killed."

" _You_ nearly got killed."

I blew out a breath. "You weren't there, Tommy."

"Which begs the question why _you_ were."

I wasn't used to Tommy questioning me. So my answers when they came out were noticeably brisk. "If I wasn't he would've been dead."

"Jase is a ranger! You're not!" he exclaimed.

My mouth fell open and my eyes widened in disbelief and he noticed. He swallowed a few times and when he asked his next question he was considerably calmer. "Why are you even back in Angel Grove anyway?"

"Injury. Needed to recover," I answered him shortly.

A wounded expression crossed his face. "Were you going to tell me?" He looked at me, "That you were back?"

I looked at the floor. Shuffled my feet a little. Then decided to be honest. "No. And I'm not going to be here for long anyway. Just for a little while."

He glanced away from me, and fixed his gaze at the darkness outside the window. "How come you told Jason?" he asked me quietly.

I sighed and unfolded my arms. Crossing the space between us, I sat down next to him on the bed. "You know how it is with Jase and I," I said and rubbed my eyes tiredly with the pads of my fingers. "And besides... after the letter..." I trailed off with a shrug.

Tommy stiffened slightly at the reminder of our broken-up status, and out of habit, my finger started a twirl in a lock of my hair. My thoughts drifted to Jason. I haven't seen him since two days ago when he left me in the medical bay. It was Billy, and Katherine, actually, who saw me home earlier that evening. If I didn't know any better, I would say that he had been avoiding me.

"How's Jason?" I asked Tommy, my thoughts getting the better of me.

"Jase?"

"Yeah."

"He's okay. Uh, Billy and his gadgets took care of the arrow, and his powers and the morphing grid did the rest."

I nodded, remembering the fear at almost having lost him. "How're his powers holding up?"

"Uh, he seems to have gotten control of it again." He chuckled. "He's got the arrow up on display in his room at the dorms though. Right above the two katanas he's got crossed over his bed."

I shuddered slightly. I would have chosen never to see that arrow again. But Jason had always elected to take his fears head-on.

I startled out of my thoughts when Tommy's hand covered mine on the bed. "You know, Kim," he said with a small grin, "one of the things I love most about you is how much you care about your friends." His eyes bored into mine.

I tried to smile in return. "I love Jason," I told him quietly.

"Yeah," he nodded. "So do I," he said, then sighed. "You're a really good friend to him, Kim."

An ache opened up in my heart. "Yeah," I replied hollowly. "Good friend."

His hand tightened over mine, and he turned to face me. "Maybe... Maybe we could try that too?"

My brows raised in confusion. "Um, we _are_ friends. Tommy."

"No." His fingers clenched and unclenched and his other hand went to fiddle with some hair behind his ear. "Not like you and Jase. Not that kind of friends." He looked at me in all seriousness. "You think maybe we could... start again?"

A frown made its way across my face, and I slid him a sidelong glance. "Start again?" I echoed.

He angled his body towards mine, and opened his mouth before his brows furrowed and he snapped it shut. He reached out and placed both hands on either side of my arms and shifted me until I was facing him. Our knees bumped and my frown deepened slightly.

His hands found mine on my lap and he folded them over both of mine.

"Kim," he began, "I've been thinking. About us... About us, a _lot_."

"Tommy..."

He shook his head violently, his hair rustling across his shoulders. "No. No wait, let me finish."

He took a deep breath and an earnestness played across his features, "It's because we weren't friends first. That's why it ended like it did, because we were not friends."

I pursed my lips. "We are friends, Tommy."

"No, you see," he said and moved closer, bringing both my hands towards his chest. My knees pressed uncomfortably against his. "I want us to start over, like-"

A quiet rustling sounded by the window and a lithe figure dropped lightly into my room.

His appearance took me by surprise, and I looked around Tommy to meet an equally surprised expression on his darkly handsome face.

There was a slight silence as the three of us stared at each other and then Jason broke it.

"Tommy, hey," he said, his eyes moving between Tommy and I. His gaze dropped to take in both my hands, that Tommy had placed over his heart, and both my knees between his.

His throat worked as he swallowed once, and a shuttered expression came over his face. "I'm sorry. Uh, I came to talk to Kim, but uh, I guess I could come back another time." He avoided my eyes.

"No, wait," I said, struggling to pull my hands back from Tommy's vice-like grip.

"Yeah, thanks man," said Tommy at the same time.

Jason nodded stiffly. "No problem." He ducked under the window pane, and before I could say anything else, exited as quietly as he came in.

I wrenched my hands free. "Jason!" I called out, rushing to the window to see him land on the ground and back away into the darkness. "Jase!"

He met my eyes and gave me a two-fingered wave, before he turned around the side of the house and disappeared.

"Dammit," I muttered, whirling around and making for my bedroom door. I had been waiting ages to see him again, and this was not the sort of meeting I was expecting.

I wrenched open the door, and Tommy's hand came to rest on it above my head as he pushed it back shut.

I looked up, my eyes twin daggers of frustration and annoyance.

"Where're you going? We haven't finished talking." He looked confused.

"Yes we have." I yanked at the door handle. It wouldn't budge. I glared expectantly at Tommy's hand.

He frowned.

I blew out a breath, and my left eye narrowed.

He withdrew his hand slowly, frown still firmly in place. "You're going after Jase?"

"Yeah, Tommy. I haven't seen him in _two days_ , and I can't help it if all I can think about when I think about my _best friend_ is him bleeding out all over the floor with a massive _pole_ sticking out of his side."

"Arrow," he replied absently.

"What _ever._ "

He looked at me closely. "Okay. I guess, I understand."

"You do, huh."

He didn't reply.

I sighed. "Look, Tommy, I need to—"

"—Yeah, okay," he interrupted. "I'm sorry. I know that you guys are close. I just thought... Y'know.." he broke off and scratched his head. "Maybe later?"

"Yeah, okay later. We'll talk later."

He smiled, satisfied. "Okay."

I ushered him down the stairs and out the front door. I locked the door behind me and gave him a short wave, barely noticing that he had gotten himself a new car as I rounded the house and took off in the direction that Jason had left.


End file.
